DUSHANBE, October 28, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Tajik Ombudsman Zarif Alizoda and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Lukin, have signed an agreement in Moscow on mutual cooperation, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports.

Vladimir Zakharov, who heads the Russian ombudsman''s department for international cooperation, told RFE/RL on October 27 the agreement -- signed on October 26 -- enumerates the rights of Tajik citizens in Russia and Russian citizens in Tajikistan, but he did not give details.

Alizoda is currently visiting Moscow and other major Russian cities where hundreds of thousands of Tajik migrant workers live and work.

Hundreds of Tajiks have died in Russia in the past year.  Humayro Ashour of the Tajik Interior Ministry told RFE/RL in July that most died in work-related accidents or were killed by Russian ultranationalist groups.

Representatives of the Tajik Embassy in Moscow told RFE/RL that Alizoda met with them on October 26.