ALMATY (Reuters) -Tajikistan’s communications service said on Tuesday that it had launched a national messenger app, mimicking similar projects in Russia and Kazakhstan, which critics have warned could compromise user data.

In a statement, the Tajik government communications service said the launch of the app, ORIZ, was: “an important step towards Tajikistan’s digital independence.”

It said the app would be aimed in part at the millions of Tajik migrants working in Russia, where access to Telegram and WhatsApp is limited, and that all user data would be stored within Tajikistan.

“Dependence on foreign networks can harm information security”, it said.

Tajikistan, the poorest of the former Soviet republics, has been governed since the early 1990s by President Emomali Rahmon, who came to

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