2023-11-16 10:36:00
“I was offered jobs on construction sites in Donetsk and Mariupol, I refused.” Zoïr Kurbanov is one of the migrant workers from Central Asia who left Russia, facing pressure to send him to occupied Ukraine.
The thirty-year-old construction worker is now building apartments in his hometown, Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, after ten years in Russia.
The fear of having to leave for the occupied and warring Ukrainian territories led him to this choice: “Go back, even if I earn much less here.”
More than a year and a half after its invasion, Russia needs millions of immigrant workers to fill its labor shortage, particularly in the Ukrainian regions annexed and ravaged by the fighting.
Despite the conflict, the destination remains attractive for nationals of the former Soviet republics of Central Asia: in the first quarter of 2023 alone, among the 1.29 million migrants who came to work in Russia, 90% came from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan or Uzbekistan.
And Moscow is also seeking to recruit among these Russian-speaking foreigners to repopulate the ranks of its army. A phenomenon that is difficult to quantify, like that of the return of migrants for fear of being sent to occupied Ukraine.
-Police everywhere-
The Russian authorities are increasing incentives to go and work in Ukrainian territory: promises of high salaries and social benefits, even obtaining Russian citizenship.
But they also know how to be more restrictive, with witnesses talking about police raids to put pressure on migrants.
“The Russian police checked me everywhere, they asked me if I had done my military service,” remembers Arguen Bolgonbekov, 29, who served in the Kyrgyz border guards.
The checks can turn into a nightmare, he says, affirming that the police, under the pretext of real or imaginary offenses, sometimes offer this choice: prison or the army.
“In Russia, where there are problems with human and workers’ rights, migrants are vulnerable. It is easier to deceive them,” explains Batyr Chermoukhammad, an Uzbek journalist specializing in migration issues, to AFP.
Arguen Bolgonbekov was deported to his native Kyrgyzstan due to irregularities, a relief, he says.
“It’s a good thing, there you could no longer walk around peacefully,” continues the young man, met in a sewing workshop in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.
Farkhodjon Oumirzakov, an Uzbek who worked in Russia for six years before his expulsion, says he was “worn down” by the ambient climate in Russia.
“The pressure on migrants increased. We were disrespected. There were more and more raids. Even in mosques, people were arrested,” Mr Oumirzakov, 35, from returned home to Kokand.
“I know an Uzbek, sentenced to twelve years in prison for drug trafficking. He went to war,” he assures. The few independent media outlets in Central Asia have reported such cases.
“Need for soldiers”
The Russian authorities no longer hide the fact that these migrants are targets, particularly those who are naturalized Russians.
MP Mikhail Matveyev, for example, calls for these new citizens to be mobilized first: “Russia needs soldiers, welcome to our citizenship!”, he said on Telegram.
Recruitment campaigns specifically target migrants from the post-Soviet space, particularly from the Caucasus and Central Asia, playing on the privileged links between Moscow and its former empire.
Russian propaganda thus presents the war as an extension of that waged against Nazi Germany by the Soviet army.
The Russian region of Vladimir published a video at the beginning of November in which two men, presenting themselves as Tajik doctors, say they are going to the front and call on their compatriots to “follow the example”.
In another, a man calling himself Uzbek says he joined the army because “Russia is like a rampart: if it falls, our countries will fall too.”
These campaigns do not please Central Asian governments.
Although they are certainly economically dependent on Moscow, they remain concerned about their own sovereignty in the face of Russian ambitions and regularly call on their nationals not to participate in the war.
Still, Russia “remains the priority destination”.
Journalist Batyr Chermoukhammad notes that there is no other country where these migrants “can go without a visa, speak Russian and earn money”.
Zoïr Kurbanov, the Tajik worker, confirms. “If the war ends tomorrow, I will return to Russia the day after tomorrow.”
16/11/2023 09:34:59 – Almaty (Kazakhstan) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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