Russian Ambassador to Tajikistan Maksim Peshkov told a press conference in Dushanbe on 4 February that some recent articles in the independent Tajik publications \"Asia Plus\" and \"Ruz-i nav\" about Russian-Tajik relations have distorted facts and demonstrated ignorance of the real situation. Peshkov said he is bothered by reports on Tajik labor migrants in Russia and on the strategic relationship between the two countries, but he was particularly annoyed by an assertion that Tajikistan\'s debt to Russia is $300 million, rather than the $400 million that Peshkov says is the correct figure. The Tajik media has sometimes been critical of the treatment of Tajik job seekers in the Russian Federation. Such articles tend to appear whenever a group of Tajiks is deported for allegedly violating Russian residence rules. \"Ruz-i nav\" has reported extensively on the number of Tajiks who have died in Russia and has even implied that they were victims of genocide. (RIA-Novosti)