RFE/RL’s Eliza Kenenbaeva has an eye-opening account of how Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is playing out in central Asia. Although Putin has shut down RFE/RL in Russia, its reporters still work in other ex-Soviet states, and Kenenbaeva’s recent story “For Money Or A Passport: Many Kyrgyz Fighting Alongside Russians In Ukraine” explains why so many young men from central Asia are now coming home in coffins to be buried in a hurry.
Here’s what’s happening as I understand it. Due to Russia’s declining population, Putin has long had a policy of recruiting migrant workers from central Asia, particularly those who will speak Russian and fit in. As is common in such situations, the number of actual migrants is considerably larger than the number of officially reported migrants (which for political reasons Putin keeps under 2 million), and migrants need the proper documentation, ideally Russian citizenship.
This sort of migration is a big deal. For example, about 600,000 Kyrgyz have obtained Russian citizenship this way. That’s nearly a tenth of Kyrgyzstan’s population.
Two months ago, Russia passed a law that reduced the delay for applying for Russian citizenship from 12 to 3 months, if the applicant agrees to sign a contract with the Russian military. These contracted soldiers (not mercenaries — that’s something else) are allowed by law to be sent as cannon fodder in Ukraine, whereas Russian law does not allow Russian conscripts to be sent to Ukraine. (Putin has skirted this law but fears to ignore it completely.)
Many central Asian migrants signed a contract with the Russian military, thinking that they’ll become citizens quickly this way. (The new law does not actually promise citizenship, but Russian Army recruiters don’t tell potential recruitees this detail.)
Worse, some Russian authorities told migrants from central Asia who were already Russian citizens that their citizenship would be stripped and they would be deported, unless they signed a contract and became soldiers. (Russian law does not actually say this.)
And then Putin invaded Ukraine.
These migrants are now cannon fodder, and many are coming home in boxes.