Russian blogger who criticized Uzbekistan’s trains considers moving to Tashkent

Famous Russian YouTube blogger and urban planning analyst Ilya Varlamov wants to move to Tashkent. He announced this on his Telegram channel.  

Until this time, he has created much content about Uzbekistan and Tashkent, and in his videos, he has expressed warm thoughts about the country's rich cultural heritage, historical architecture, and modern development processes.  

"I studied cultural studies. On even days, I would visit the Hazrati Imam Ensemble, and on odd days, I would visit the Tashkent metro, which has beautiful stations. I used to go to Tashkent zoo and watch snow leopards and camels. I used to tell everyone about Abdul Sher. I didn't even pay attention to the tourist streets when there was such an ancient Old Town. I would have found rare books in the Chorsu market. I was drawing a picture of the Kokaldosh madrasa. I was walking around Navoi Avenue. I was listening to 'Yalla' and the sounds of Uzbek musical instruments," said Varlamov, who left the post.  

Varlamov also reminded of the importance of not only loving the city, but also preserving its heritage. For this reason, the Russian city dweller wants to "tie his waist" to preserve Tashkent.  

"I am ready to participate in initiatives such as protecting old neighborhoods and historical architecture from modern influences and protecting the Chorsu market from threats of modernization. Tashkent's uniqueness lies in its rich history, and protecting this history is the duty of every citizen," he said.  

Blogger Azim also spoke about the gastronomic possibilities of the capital, saying that he dreams of trying somsa, pilaf, and other national dishes, especially drinking tea in old teahouses and buying Uzbek spices from the markets is on his personal 'Wish List,' added that he received.  

"I planned to celebrate Nawruz here, visit historical cities like Samarkand and Bukhara, and get to know the rich history of Uzbekistan," Varlamov wrote.  

For information, Russian blogger Ilya Varlamov was in Tashkent earlier and criticized the taped windows, laundry table and toilet, and broken shower during his trip in the 'luxury' carriage of Uzbekistan Railways in May of last year.  

The officials on the train explained his criticism by saying that Uzbeks are uncivilized.  

"Personally, I am ashamed to sell tickets for such a train here, because people, especially if they are foreigners, think that they are unscrupulous about Uzbekistan and Uzbeks, walking on this train. Actually, it is not. Uzbeks are wonderful, neat, and orderly people. But the head of the train or the conductor of the train is 'spoiling' the Uzbeks. They should be ashamed. I hope they will be reprimanded," he said then.  

But instead of eliminating the shortcomings listed by "Uztemiryolyolovchi," Ilya Varlamov, they responded to his criticism by imposing strict disciplinary punishment on the car monitors and the train manager who was on duty that day, and this answer hurt Varlamov.  

Let's remember that Ilya Varlamov announced that he got citizenship of Turkmenistan on March 8 of last year, but a day later he said that it was a joke and that he did not understand how it is possible to get citizenship of such a country. The Ministry of Justice of Russia declared him a "foreign agent."