They went for work and ended up at war: how Russia recruits Central Asians
Uzbek, Tajik and Kazakh citizens who travelled to Russia for jobs are being deceived or coerced into Russian army contracts and sent to fight in Ukraine.
Central Asian labour migrants who went to Russia for civilian jobs — security, construction, logistics, IT — are being pressured, deceived or coerced into signing Russian Defence Ministry contracts and sent to Ukraine.
Methods documented by Amnesty International include fake job ads for construction, security, logistics and IT, and promises of non-combat work, high pay and Russian citizenship. Sites such as Militarycontract.pro/uz and Workcrewagency.com openly offer military service. Those who refuse are threatened with deportation, prosecution or prison; detainees are offered a contract in exchange for release. Foreigners can also enlist legally at migration centres such as Sakharovo; a 7 July 2026 law shields certain serving foreign soldiers from deportation.
The numbers
According to a report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Russia has recruited roughly 27,000 foreign nationals since February 2022; over 10,000 are from Central Asia. Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project cited 12,919 Central Asians who signed Defence Ministry contracts as of May — 4,955 Uzbeks, 3,489 Tajiks, 2,420 Kazakhs, 1,474 Kyrgyz, 581 Turkmen. The project is run by Ukraine (a party to the war) and the figures are not independently verified.
Prosecution back home
Article 154 of Uzbekistan's Criminal Code (mercenary activity) carries 5 to 10 years for fighting in a foreign war; recruiting, training or financing (part 2) carries 7 to 12 years. Per Gazeta.uz and Kun.uz, 338 criminal cases have been opened since 2022 (19 in 2022, 68 in 2023, 112 in 2024, 139 in 2025).
In September a 27-year-old Uzbek — who went to Russia for work in 2023, was jailed 12 years on a drug charge, signed a military contract in prison in December 2025, was wounded and fled a hospital back home — was sentenced to 3 years 1 month for mercenary activity.
Kazakhstan and others
In Kazakhstan, Article 172 (participation in a foreign armed conflict) carries 5 to 9 years and Article 170 (mercenarism) is more severe; in January 2025 an Almaty resident was sentenced to five years. On 7 October relatives of 21 citizens appealed to the Foreign Ministry in Astana; the ministry said it was negotiating their return with Russia. Uzbekistan's Migration Agency warned in May that citizens are drawn into the conflict through fake "work" and "legal assistance" offers.
Every year we identify hundreds of our citizens drawn into foreign armed groups.
— State Security Service of Uzbekistan (SSS)
