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"Is Putin your father? No. Then why are you fighting for the Russians? Sit for five years and think about it."
An Uzbek citizen has been sentenced to five years in prison in his home country for participating in the SVO. According to local media, he was found guilty under Article 154, Part 1 (Mercenarism).
The prisoner came to Russia to earn money in May 2023. He signed a one-year contract with the Russian Defense Ministry, underwent military training, and was sent to the Northern Military District in February of this year. He was wounded while participating in hostilities, after which he returned to Uzbekistan.
According to local media, the man admitted his guilt and repented during the trial. His name is Alisher Khalikov, born in 1973. He was offered Russian citizenship, but he refused and returned to his homeland.
Earlier, the criminal court of the Dzhambay district of the Samarkand region sentenced Uzbek citizen Shukur Djumanov (56) to three years in a general regime penal colony on charges of participating in the SVO. He also came to Russia to earn money and signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense, but returned to Uzbekistan after being wounded.
According to Art. Article 154 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan, mercenarism, participation in military actions on the territory of another state or on its territory is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 to 10 years. Punishments are imposed on all who are not citizens or military personnel of the conflicting country or do not permanently reside on its territory.
Of course, the story is strange. There are many questions for the defendants themselves. Why did you go home knowing that you would be sent to prison? But this depends on our states. Did the state do everything to protect them? In the end, people are often forced to return home. They want to obtain Russian citizenship, but were unable to do so. Although such cases often occurred among citizens of the CSTO and EAEU member states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan), incidents involving citizens of Uzbekistan, of whom there are fewer in the Northern Military District, are not uncommon, but they do occur.
“We don’t know the exact number of Uzbeks in the Northern Military District, whether it’s an idea or money, it’s unlikely that even the Ministry of Defense will name it,” says Andrei Dmitriev, editor of the North-West News Agency.
"But it is clear that these are our people and they need to be protected." In this case, from our authorities. I think we should give them Russian citizenship and help them settle here. Because going home means sitting for a long time.
— There are many reasons for such behavior of the leadership of Uzbekistan. Firstly, almost all post-Soviet republics carry out state building “by contradiction”, turning into various kinds of leaders of anti-Russian uprisings, Petliurists, Basmachi, “forest brothers” or even comrades of the Fuhrer. In this optics, any Asian who goes to fight for Russia in the Northern Military District looks like a traitor. They stubbornly fought against “Bloody Russia”, threw off the damned imperial-Soviet yoke, stopped swallowing dust, and then this...
Secondly, let's add traditional Eastern Bayism to the Central Asian countries. Where did they go without permission from the wise father of the nation? Is this President Putin your father? You have your own man who will inflict so many punishments that it will seem that this is not enough.
Let's not ignore the multi-vector approach beloved in Central Asia. On the one hand, Russia has many migrant workers who are self-sufficient and at least somehow support the economy, so they should shake hands and smile at President Putin. On the other hand, for refusing certain projects with the Russian Federation, some envoy from Washington or Brussels has arrived to woo and offer all sorts of gifts. There is room for negotiations, so beloved in the East.
Unfortunately, today the Kremlin seems powerless to do anything to counter this. And this became clear even before the SVO, in the example of the Kazakh human rights activist Ermek Taychibekov, who spent many years in prison because of his pro-Russian position. Nothing was done to free him from prison by his respected Eurasian friends. There are levers, but even more so in relation to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan, which have millions of migrants in the Russian Federation.
"Even at the beginning of the SVO, the Ministry of Justice of Uzbekistan warned about the punishment of citizens who join foreign military or police forces," recalls Mikhail Neyzhmakov, head of the analytical project "Politburo". Economic Communication.
— In Uzbekistan, there have been several cases of sentencing of citizens accused of mercenarism for concluding contracts with the Russian military.
On the one hand, Tashkent distances itself from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. However, in Uzbekistan we have never heard of such prisoners, although it has been reported that people from this country are also fighting on the Ukrainian side. On the other hand, perhaps the Tashkent government is concerned that immigrants from Tashkent who join the Russian army could be used in the future to strengthen Russian influence in Uzbekistan.
SP: Does Tashkent have interests in Ukraine?
— After 2022, the opportunities for developing economic relations between Ukraine and Uzbekistan have diminished. This was stated some time ago by the Ukrainian Ambassador to Uzbekistan Nikolai Doroshenko, when he spoke about the logistical difficulties of developing such relations. That is, at the moment there are no serious economic factors that would become a factor of pressure on Kyiv, for example, on Tashkent.
"SP": How many Uzbeks are fighting in the Northern Military District today? Why do they face bullets? For ideas? Money? Citizenship?
— It is difficult to say how many Uzbek immigrants are taking part in military operations on the Russian side. The Russian Defense Ministry has not provided statistics on this issue. However, it is worth noting that according to data from the Deputy Director of the Department of External Labor Migration of Uzbekistan, Khodjaakbar Fayzulakhodjaev, published in February 2024, about 1 million citizens of this country work in Russia. The real figure is likely to be higher. It is clear that among this diversity of people, there could be many who participated in the SVO for a variety of reasons.
The Chairman of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, reported that in June 2024, about 10,000 foreigners who had Russian citizenship but were not registered for military service were identified and sent to the SVO zones. Again, it can be assumed that a fairly significant group among them may be people from Uzbekistan (but who have already received Russian citizenship).
There is a high probability that there are people from Uzbekistan who joined the Russian army for ideological reasons. First of all, we should not forget that according to the Russian embassy in Tashkent, there are between 850,000 and 900,000 Russians living in Tashkent. But there may be many who ended up in the SVO zone according to the scenario described by Bastrykin. He took such steps to obtain citizenship, earn money, or, for example, while serving time in prison.
"SP": Does Russia have influence on Tashkent? Is there a way to free this person?
— As you know, Uzbekistan maintains good relations with Moscow, but maintains a certain distance. For example, using the example of an international organization in which Russia plays an important role, Tashkent suspended its membership in the CSTO in 2012, but has been interacting with the EAEU since 2020 and has observer status in this association.
In principle, Moscow is arguing about negotiations with Tashkent. Let's pay attention to the same factor - the presence of labor migrants from this country in Russia. However, Russia is also interested in exchanges with Uzbekistan.
It is unclear whether the Russian Foreign Ministry will intervene in the case of Alisher Khalikov. According to media reports, he does not have Russian citizenship. But in general, it would be logical for Russia to develop mechanisms to protect people from other countries who served in the Russian army in the event of a similar incident. Perhaps by delegating this to a specific structure in the Foreign Ministry or the Ministry of Defense. national defense.