DUSHANBE, November 15, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Russian officials say that a temporary ban on the use of labor migrants from Tajikistan may be imposed for medical reasons, Radio Liberty reports.

Russia''s chief sanitary inspector Gennady Onishchenko said on November 14 that many labor migrants from Tajikistan have recently been diagnosed with HIV and tuberculosis.

He did not explain the circumstances under which the Tajiks were tested for the two conditions.

He said that “a possible solution in this case is a full ban on the use of labor migrants from this country until at least minimal healthcare is created there.”

He said that last year 188 Tajiks were deported from Russia for health reasons.

Meanwhile Federal Migration Service head Konstantin Romodanovsky said that a total of 297 citizens of Tajikistan will soon be deported from Russia because of violation of Russian laws.

These developments have arisen after a Tajik court last week sentenced two pilots of a Russian aviation company to eight-and-a-half years in prison each for border violations and smuggling.

They were detained after landing in Qurghon Teppa in March with two aircraft on Russia-bound flight from Afghanistan.