They realized something was wrong only when they were already in Ukraine and saw the bombed-out villages, says Russian human rights activist Valentina Tjupik to Human Rights Watch (HRW) about a group of Uzbeks who were sent to the front in October 2022.
Hours earlier, Tjupik, who leads the aid organization Tong Jahoni, had received a phone call from some of the men. "Is Mariupol in the Moscow region?" they asked.
There were several hundred of them. We were in contact with them for six hours, while they were being transported, and then the call was cut off.
Raped with a mop
The same month, another group of Uzbek men called from a prison in Russian Solova. They had been arrested for drug offenses – according to Tjupik, likely fabricated charges – and were now being forced to sign contracts with the Russian paramilitary Wagner.
When they refused, one of them was raped with a floor mop in front of the others. Then they were told they had until the next morning to decide. They were hysterical.
In an HRW report released this week, there are several examples of how Russia uses coercion, violence, threats, and outright lies to lure Central Asian migrants to the front.
Many are forced to go through threats of deportation from Russia, according to the Kyrgyz aid organization Insan-Leilek.
Violence and racism
Last year, President Vladimir Putin signed a law that allows newly naturalized Russians to be stripped of their citizenship if they do not register for military service. Since August, at least 10,000 Central Asians have been sent to Ukraine in this way, according to HRW.
Central Asians who seek better lives and higher wages in Russia have long been subjected to racism and discrimination: arbitrary arrests, ethnic profiling, and harassment by police and the judiciary. They also fall victim to xenophobia and violence, often from far-right ultra-nationalist groups.
Under Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union, people from Central Asia and the Caucasus were traditionally used as cheap labor in agriculture. Now Moscow has taken it a step further.
What we see today is a continuation of the use of migrants as a human resource, but not just for labor purposes, but in all areas where the Russian government has a need – including forced mobilization to the war in Ukraine, says migration researcher Nodira Kholmatova to HRW.
Central Asia consists of the former Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In all countries, Russian remittances, i.e. money sent home from Russia, make up a large part of the economy.
More than ten million Central Asians are estimated to live and work in Russia, up to half of them without proper papers and with no social safety net.
The Central Asian guest workers with real work permits often have insecure visas that need to be renewed frequently. The vast majority have low-wage jobs in cleaning, industry, or construction. The wages are, however, significantly higher than for similar jobs in their home countries.
Central Asian and Caucasian guest workers are systematically subjected to discrimination and racism in Russia. Routine police raids and arbitrary arrests are common at factories and industries with many guest workers. Since the terrorist attack on concertgoers in Moscow in March 2024, where men from Tajikistan were identified as the main culprits, the situation has become even worse.
Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, disproportionately many Central Asians in Russia have been called up to the army and sent to Ukraine as cannon fodder, according to several reports. Central Asians who have refused to take military service have said they were beaten by police and deported on fabricated grounds.
Sources: Landguiden/UI, Human Rights Watch, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
