“Hooded and taken away”: Uzbek man punished for fighting in Ukraine

A 25-year-old man from the Khatirchi district of Navoi region has been sentenced to four years of restricted liberty for participating in the war against Ukraine as part of the Russian army. QALAMPIR.UZ has reviewed the court documents.

According to the documents, the man, born in 2000 and with no prior criminal record, traveled to Russia in October 2023 for work. In December 2024, he was recruited by the Russian side and took part in the armed conflict in Ukraine.

In April 2025, he sustained severe injuries in an explosion in Donetsk and received treatment at a hospital in St. Petersburg. After being discharged, he contacted the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Moscow, claiming he had lost his passport. On this basis, he was issued a certificate to return to Uzbekistan.

The man returned to Tashkent on May 24 of this year. However, law enforcement authorities soon established that he had taken part in the armed conflict in Ukraine. After his return to the Navoi region, a criminal case was opened against him, and the case was brought to court.

At the court hearing, the young man pleaded guilty and confirmed the testimony he had given during the investigation. He stated that he traveled to Russia with an acquaintance in October 2023 in search of work. After police checked their documents, they were taken to a detention facility. Later, he was accused of transporting drugs with forged documents and placed under arrest.

He told the court that, since he did not know Russian, he was interrogated through a translator. He claimed that investigators forced him to sign a contract to be sent to war, and when he refused, he was subjected to psychological and physical pressure.

After being held in custody for eight months, he was sentenced by a court to eight years of imprisonment and began serving his sentence in a penal colony. There, too, he was pressured and eventually forced to sign a contract in December 2024. On April 1, 2025, he was handcuffed, had a bag placed over his head, and was taken to a military unit.

The court found him guilty under Article 154, part 1 (mercenarism) of the Criminal Code. According to the verdict, he was sentenced to four years of restricted liberty.

It should be stated that this is not the first case of Uzbek citizens being recruited in Russia to fight in the war against Ukraine. Reports regularly emerge about the significant number of Uzbeks involved in the conflict. For instance, earlier, the “I want to live” project, launched with the support of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense and the Main Intelligence Directorate, published the names of 902 Uzbek citizens who had signed contracts with the Russian Armed Forces to participate in the war. According to some publications, as in many other fields, Uzbeks rank among the first in mercenary recruitment. Even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed that Uzbeks are fighting on Russia’s side.

It is worth noting that earlier, a resident of the Tashkent region was sentenced to five years of restricted freedom after traveling to Russia for work and subsequently taking part in the war against Ukraine. In another case, a resident of Yangiyul city in the Tashkent region was sentenced to five years and one month in prison for participating in the fighting in Ukraine and for cultivating narcotic plants at his home.