Can Uzbeks repatriate from Russia since war broke out? 

A woman who follows her husband to work in a distant country becomes both a father and a mother to her children.  As a mother, she is condemned to sweet words, as a father to rebuke, and to take the housework on her shoulders.  A woman cares about the warmth and comfort of her distant husband as if she has nothing to do with him.  It is good if the country he goes to is peaceful, but if he is in a country where there is unrest, there will be a problem.

The war between Russia and Ukraine worried those whose family members were in the same country. On 21 September, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on partial military mobilization in the country, and after the start of the mobilization activities, news spread on social networks that migrants were being recruited into the war for money.

At the same time, Kirill Kabanov, a member of the Council on Human Rights under the President of Russia, announced that Russia is preparing proposals to enlist Central Asians who have been naturalized in the last 10 years.  According to him, the proposal will apply to citizens who have moved from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and those who refuse military service and their family members will be stripped of their citizenship.

According to Russia IIV reports, the number of foreigners and stateless persons who have received Russian passports has been increasing year by year.  In 2021 alone, the number of "new Russians" increased by 12 percent to 735,400 people.

Most of those who received Russian citizenship were born in Ukraine.  A total of 376,000 Ukrainians received Russian citizenship.  14.1 percent or 103.7 thousand people from Tajikistan, 2.6 percent or 19.2 thousand people from Kyrgyzstan, 6.8 percent or 49.9 thousand people from Kazakhstan, 4.3 percent or 31.9 thousand people from Uzbekistan the person acquired Russian citizenship in 2021.

Citizens of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, and Armenia are among those who have citizenship.  Also, 481 citizens of Germany, 388 citizens of the USA, 226 citizens of Italy, 183 citizens of Greece and a number of other countries have Russian passports.

According to the information provided by the Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations, as of 1 March 2022, the average number of labor migrants performing temporary work abroad was 2.4 million, more precisely, 2,356,954 people.  568.5 thousand or 24.1 percent of them are women, 827.1 thousand or 35.1 percent are young people.

1.5 million of them work in the Russian Federation.  52.7% of our compatriots work in construction, 16.4% in trade and services, 12.8% in industry, 10% in agriculture, and 8.1% in other fields.

After the start of the mobilization activities, news about the recruitment of migrants for war began to spread on social networks.  This worried Uzbeks whose relatives are in Russia. QALAMPIR.UZ contacted the Press Secretary of the Foreign Labor Migration agency Artikkhoja Norov to clarify this information.

"Since the beginning of 2022, 18,000 citizens have officially gone to Russia as labor migrants.  "So far, there have been no requests to return to Uzbekistan due to the announcement of military mobilization in Russia, or that there was a call to participate in military operations," said an official of the Foreign Labor Migration Agency.

We remind you that according to the first part of Article 154 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, recruitment, that is, a person who is not considered a citizen or military serviceman of a conflicting state, or who does not permanently live in the territory of a conflicting state under control, or is officially assigned to the armed forces by any state recruiting a person who has not been given the authority to take part in an armed conflict or military action on the territory of another state or on its side, for financial benefit or any other personal benefit, shall be punished by deprivation of liberty for five to ten years.

Also, according to Article 1541 of the Criminal Code, the entry of a citizen of the Republic of Uzbekistan into the military service, security, police, military justice bodies or other similar bodies of foreign countries is punishable by up to 3 years of correctional labor, and punishment of up to 5 years of imprisonment.