The Embassy of Uzbekistan in Russia will expand its staff to include a representative from Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, as stipulated in a new decree signed by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The representative’s responsibilities include protecting the rights of Uzbek citizens in Russia and facilitating cooperation between Uzbekistan’s and Russia’s law enforcement agencies to address organized crime, terrorism, extremism, human trafficking, illegal migration, and other criminal activities, as well as to organize data exchange in these areas.
The decree comes days after Mirziyoyev and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone call. While the Uzbek president’s official website only mentioned that the discussion focused on strengthening and expanding partnerships in agriculture, education, and medicine, as well as on an upcoming December meeting, the Russian government highlighted that the two leaders also “exchanged views on the current situation in Syria and around Ukraine.”
As Russia’s war with Ukraine continues, Central Asian nationals, including Uzbeks in Russia – particularly those in Russian prisons – remain vulnerable. Russia’s Defense Ministry has been recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine, following a practice initially pioneered by the Wagner mercenary group.
Wagner’s late leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, often referred to as “Putin’s chef,” demonstrated the effectiveness of former convicts in warzones. By May 2023, Prigozhin had reportedly recruited over 50,000 inmates, often personally visiting prisons and offering promises of lavish salaries and a way to escape lengthy prison sentences. However, approximately 20,000 of these recruits lost their lives in Ukraine.
Prigozhin himself was killed in a plane crash along with his top lieutenants after a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s top echelon. But Russia’s Defense Ministry adopted his recruitment strategy, increasingly targeting migrant prisoners. According to the Russia Behind Bars NGO, at least 53 penal colonies across Russia have been closed in 2024.
At the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, Moscow began enlisting labor migrants. Tashkent was slow to remind its citizens not to join any foreign armies. The first bodies to return to Uzbekistan from Russia in January 2023, belonged to two young men in their 20s who had previously been imprisoned. Their caskets were accompanied by certificates stating they had “died in the war in Ukraine.”
Many Uzbek citizens depend on labor migration, with 70-87 percent of migrants choosing Russia as a destination. Factors such as a visa-free regime, an established migrant community, and familiarity with language and some shared history play a role in the choice. Although officially 1.8 million Uzbeks currently work in Russia, unregistered migrant workers might make up another million.
The exact number of migrants currently held in Russian prisons also remains unknown. Prior to the Russia-Ukraine war, Central Asians accounted for half of all foreign convicts in Russian jails, with over 8,000 Tajik inmates, followed by Uzbeks with more than 6,300 prisoners. Kyrgyz nationals in Russian prisons were estimated to number around 1,500. How many of those have been recruited has not been reported either. However, stories of migrants being recruited – often pressured to enlist – surface occasionally in the media.
Twenty-three-year-old Sh. Tojiboyev from Uzbekistan, for example, owned a cafe in Russia before being arrested after heroin was allegedly found in his car. Following the return of his body to Uzbekistan, his mother claimed that the charges were fabricated and that he was coerced into joining the Russian army. “I don’t serve in the military, I don’t kill people, mother. They forced me even though I resisted,” she quoted her son as saying. In an interview with a local media outlet, she urged other parents: “Take care of your children. Don’t let them go abroad for work; they will be defamed.”
Russian officials employ various carrot and stick methods to recruit imprisoned foreigners, with pretrial detention facilities and immigration detention centers reportedly being turned into recruitment hubs, according to RFE/RL. Conditions in prisons have allegedly become “unbearably harsh and inhumane” to coerce inmates into joining the military. Reports indicate that prisoners are subjected to “severe beatings and psychological abuse,” isolation, deprivation of food and water, and, in some cases, forced to drink their own urine.
Inmates are also promised benefits, such as serving a short term in the military to avoid their lengthy prison sentence, obtaining Russian citizenship, and receiving a high salary. Russian citizenship is highly sought after by many people from Central Asia, as it helps bypass bureaucratic hurdles and makes it easier to earn a living in Russia. In 2022 alone, 173,000 Tajiks, 27,000 Uzbeks, and 42,000 Kazakhs obtained Russian citizenship. Another 9,300 Uzbeks became Russian citizens just in the first half of 2023. Only Tajikistan allows dual citizenship, meaning Uzbeks who become Russian citizens have to renounce their Uzbek citizenship.
Newly naturalized citizens in Russia are required to register for military service. By mid-2024, over 10,000 of these individuals were reportedly sent to Ukraine, with many believed to be Central Asians. Russian officials have also stated that they “caught” more than 30,000 newly naturalized citizens who attempted to avoid military registration.
Whether recruited in prisons, coerced into joining the army after naturalization, or manipulated while working in Russia, Central Asians are reportedly sent to the frontlines of the war with little to no military training. Some found themselves in war zones as little as 10 days into their contract. Even after their contracts expire or they are wounded, they do not always get to return.
Returning home is not easy either. Tashkent periodically reminds its citizens that joining foreign armies is punishable by law. Just this November, an Uzbek citizen whose name remains undisclosed, was sentenced to five years for his recruitment in the Russian army. A local outlet, relying on the court documents, reported that he went to Russia looking for temporary employment in May 2023, signed a contract with Russia’s Military of Defense in November for one year, but had to leave the battlezone after severe injuries.
By mid 2023, at least 34 Uzbek citizens were reported to have died fighting for Wagner’s forces, along with 19 Kyrgyz men and 40 Tajik citizens.
Amid these developments, Uzbekistan has been working to reduce its citizens’ reliance on labor migration in Russia. The government has been making efforts to redirect labor migration flows toward more developed countries, including European nations, South Korea, and Japan.
Mirziyoyev also signed a law on December 5 aimed at enhancing the protection of the constitutional rights and freedoms of Uzbek citizens abroad. The law introduces amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, incorporating provisions for recognizing and enforcing foreign court decisions. It also adds a new chapter detailing procedures for the acceptance of Uzbek citizens sentenced to imprisonment or other punishments, as well as their transfer from foreign states to Uzbekistan.
How genuine these efforts are remains unclear. Recently, during a forum in St. Petersburg, Chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin claimed that some Uzbek officials had openly stated they do not care about Uzbek migrants.
“About three years ago I was on an official visit to Uzbekistan,” said Bastyrkin. “Our colleagues from the Uzbek prosecutor’s office told us: ‘Why are you taking them?! Nobody needs them here! But you take them in and give them citizenship.’”
Even when neighboring Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have repeatedly urged Russia to ensure fair treatment of their citizens working there, Uzbekistan has remained silent on the issue.
The appointment of the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the embassy may be a step in the right direction, but it will require sustained effort and active engagement to ensure Uzbek citizens’ rights are properly protected in a country that is in an ongoing war with its neighbor. The representative is to be appointed by the ministry with the agreement of Mirziyoyev and will be subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan.