Photo: @swatslav
The mother of Russian ethnographer Svyatoslav Kaverin, who was detained in Afghanistan more than a month ago, has appealed to Rustam Minnikhanov, head of Tatarstan, asking him to assist in securing her son’s release. The report comes from the Telegram channel BAZA.
Kaverin’s mother explained her appeal by noting that Tatarstan was the first Russian region to establish ties with Afghanistan’s new authorities—the Taliban*.
“Tatarstan serves as a bridge between Russia and Afghanistan. Members of the Afghan government have repeatedly visited your republic. You have developed close and trusting relations with them through the Russian Business Center in Afghanistan,” her letter reads.
Earlier, Kaverin’s mother appealed to the Afghan Embassy in Russia and to the Russian Foreign Ministry, but “so far there is no official information about the whereabouts or condition of Svyatoslav Kaverin.”
Svyatoslav Kaverin is a Russian ethnologist specializing in the cultures of the Hindu Kush, eastern Afghanistan, and northern Pakistan. A graduate of the Russian State University for the Humanities, he worked at the Center for Paleoethnological Research in Moscow and at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan. His fieldwork focused on remote areas of the Hindu Kush, where he studied the unique traditions, languages, clothing, and ethnic identity of small communities.
Kaverin was detained on July 19 in Kunduz Province on suspicion of smuggling jewelry, which he had brought as souvenirs. According to the Russian Business Center in Afghanistan, the detention was linked to “issues of competence among accompanying persons”: local authorities may have considered suspicious the people traveling with Kaverin. At the same time, the Taliban* have officially denied his detention, telling Russian diplomats they have no information on his whereabouts. According to BAZA, Kaverin is being held in a detention facility for foreigners in Kabul.
*The organization is designated as terrorist and banned in several countries.
