Voluntarily

On April 20, 2023, news surfaced that a student from Kazakhstan studying in Russia was purportedly kidnapped around 18 March 2023, and sent to Ukraine. The student, Margulan Bekenov, according to his mother, had flown out to Krasnodar to visit his girlfriend. 

The young man’s mother has told journalists that, after learning from her son’s friends and girlfriend about his alleged abduction, she flew out to the Russian city of Krasnodar. Margulan’s girlfriend and friends told her that recruiters took her son from Krasnodar to the village of Molkino. A PMCs "Wagner" training centre is reportedly located in the village.  

The woman says that, on April 9, she was able to briefly meet with her son under the “supervision” of his “commanding officer”. Margulan’s mother claims that he had not signed any contracts or renounced his citizenship.  

Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs would comment on the situation on the same day that the news came to the fore. 

“According to reports, the citizen mentioned in the article voluntarily signed a contract with PMC Wagner. The Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Moscow, at the first request of the relatives of this citizen, sent relevant requests to the competent authorities of the Russian Federation. The information is being verified. The consul is in constant contact with the citizen's relatives,”

- The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Aibek Smadiyarov.

The following day, April 21, 2023, a video with Margulan emerged, where the young man denied being kidnapped and confirmed that he had voluntarily joined PMC Wagner. Although the timing and content of the video are a cause for doubt, the young man does not seem to be under duress. 

It would later turn out that the young man had been recognized as "unfit" to serve in Kazakhstan's military according to representatives of the Republic of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Defense.

“There was a story in the media that I, a student of Tomsk State University, was kidnapped. Most likely this disinformation happened because of my mother. I came to the boys (from - Ed.) PMC "Wagner" voluntarily to fight, to contribute to the special military operation. I repeat once again, no one abducted me,”

Bekenov said.

Orda managed to contact the young man’s uncle on April 20, 2023. His statements cast doubt on the notion of Margulan making this “voluntary decision”. 

"The boy is in the fourth year of university, but why would he have gone there? The Foreign Ministry is now covering itself and that's why they write like that. Back in March, the family applied in writing to all authorities, no one even moved their noses. They began, as usual, to “football" ( give the run around - Ed.): then to the embassy, (from - Ed.) the embassy – to the Foreign Ministry, (from - Ed.) the Foreign Ministry – to our Ministry of Internal Affairs. Even their letters are one and the same replies, like a carbon copy. Complete nonsense. No one was seen behind the paper. (The uncle means that the answers are all the same - Ed.) The Secretary of the Commissioner for Human Rights responded downright rudely to the family: "Do you think that you are the only one? Yes, we have 50 such people lying!“ (This means that there are other similar cases - Ed.) What kind of answer is that? In the conditions where the young man turned out to be, the countdown is hours, minutes. Prigozhin has thousands of people dying on the front line. First, young guys are sent to the first line, barely out of school. And then professional mercenaries walk over the corpses. Therefore, I personally am not sure if he is alive at all.”

Not Alone.

On April 16, 2023, KazTag reported that Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee (KNB) is investigating 10 criminal cases on the facts of Kazakhstanis participation in the war in Ukraine. 

RMB: Article 172 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides for criminal liability -imprisonment for a period of 5 to 9 years for participation in foreign armed conflicts.

Prior to this, on 10 Marth, 2023, Radio Azattyq wrote that Uralsk’s former akim and former Majilis deputy, Samigolla Urazov, confirmed that his son, Baurzhan Urazov, is in Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia. The former akim told Azattyq that his son ended up in Ukraine, not by his own choice. Baurzhan had previously worked in the police. He later moved to Russia, started a family, and received Russian citizenship. 

There have also been reports on recruiting Central Asians from Russian prisons. According to Azattyq, a 30-year-old citizen of Kyrgyzstan, sentenced to convicted to 9 years on charges of robbery and rape, also went to Ukraine via PMC “Wagner”. The man’s mother says that he was charged without a reasonable basis, as he was in Kyrgyzstan when the crime occurred. 

Azattyq has also reported that another citizen of Kyrgyzstan, Ayan Alisherov, serving a prison sentence in Russia, died near Bakhmut on November 24, 2022. Ayan was not a citizen of Russia and his mother also says his conviction was based on false charges, Azattyq writes.

In June 2022 it was reportedly decided to extradite Ayan Alisherov to Kyrgyzstan. Azattyk also reports that there is a corresponding publication on the Kyrgyz Supreme Court’s website regarding the consideration of Ayan’s extradition, but nothing corroborates a decision being made. 

CABAR.asia published an extensive report on 06 April 2022 regarding other Central Asians in Ukraine. According to it, the bodies of two Kyrgyz citizens, Rustam Zarifulin and Egemberdi Dorboev, were buried in Kyrgyzstan. Both Russian and Kyrgyz servicemen participated in the burial along with the use of both of the nations’ flags. 

In the report, CABAR.asia goes on to state that there have been both unconfirmed and confirmed deaths of citizens of Tajikistan and children of Tajik migrants serving in the Russian Army in Ukraine. At the time, CABAR.asia wrote that there was no official confirmation from Uzbekistan’s authorities about the nation’s citizens fighting for Russia, though videos on social networks seem to confirm their presence as well.

There is criminal liability similar to Kazakhstan’s in all of these countries.

Recruiting in Full Swing

The Russian Telegram channel “Sirena” reported that an employee of the Sakharovo Migration Center near Moscow informed the media source that on April 4, 2023, the second wave of “advertising” military contract service to migrants had begun.

"When a migrant submits documents for a labour patent, employees are required to hand him a booklet advertising military service and send it to the point of registration of the contract. Those who agree, sign the contract on the spot,"

A Sakharovo employee

Another Russian telegram channel, Sota, reported on 19 December 2022 that there were men handing out fliers advertising army contracts in the Russian military specifically to migrants in Moscow. There have also been more recent facts of Russian recruiters targeting Central Asians at mosques and dormitories they stay in.

Azattyq has learned that there have been other cases where Central Asians have faced threats of losing their Russian citizenship if they were not to serve. Some, on the other hand, have voluntarily chosen to fight for Russia, as there is an opportunity to earn more money, have more social benefits, and receive citizenship via an expedited procedure.

The Other Side

There have also been instances when Central Asians have decided to fight on Ukraine’s side. In November of last year, Ukrainian media circulated a video where a man announces the creation of The Turkic Peoples’ Battalion in front of several armed men. The man, a citizen of Kyrgyzstan named Almaz Kudabek Uulu, leads the armed group. Kyrgyz authorities launched an investigation into the matter last year.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6imyc5ZXTYs

Another native of Central Asia and citizen of Turkmenistan, Abu Yunus, serves as a volunteer sniper in Bakhmut. CABAR.asia also interviewed an Uzbek fighting for Ukraine that refers to himself as Shavkat Muhammad (Shava) last year. Shava told CABAR.asia that he is also a volunteer. Both had been living in Ukraine before the onset of the war. 

Too Much To Handle

Facts about Central Asians in Ukraine fighting for both sides despite the severe prison sentences are indeed telling. People choosing to fight for Russia on their own accord alludes to a possible necessity due to the potential benefits or a desperate situation. Those fighting for Ukraine, on the other hand, likely see it as a common struggle.

Statistics on popular inquiries on Google are also noteworthy. Over the past year, users in North Kazakhstan, Pavlodar, Kostanay, Akmola and West Kazakhstan regions have demonstrated the most interest in Wagner.

The entirety of the situation leaves one in a moral conundrum, to say the least. Yet whatever motives Central Asians may have to participate in the war, they are now even less likely to return to their homelands out of fear of criminal persecution. Where they will end up after the war is a question that remains to be answered.