Uzbekistan may be in Moscow’s orbit, but the country quickly distanced itself from what the Kremlin still calls a “special operation”. And like other Central Asian countries, it is strongly opposed to Moscow recruiting its citizens for the war in Ukraine in exchange for good salaries and Russian passports. Until yesterday, this firm opposition had remained subdued. But the death of a man recruited from Wagner has, it seems, changed the game. The Uzbek authorities have just made public a video in which his mother testifies to the dangers of leaving to fight in Ukraine.
From our correspondent in Moscow,
He was 23, and like many poor young Uzbeks, he had gone to work in Russia to support his family. A worker in factories and then on construction sites, he had risen on his own to open a café and also become a private driver. ” Trap “, said his mother by a bag of drugs placed in his business, he was then sentenced to 10 years in prison and then recruited at Wagner, “ of strength “, he had told her during their last telephone conversation.
A video released by the Uzbek authorities
” His last call dates back to September 10. He said to me, ‘Mom, I told them that I didn’t want to put on a uniform, that I wouldn’t kill people, that I wouldn’t go there, but they forced me anyway.’ My son, who has never been in the army and has never used weapons, he was forced. From him I received only half of his body, the upper part. It’s very, very hard. I don’t wish this fate on anyone. Take care of your children, don’t let them go. »
In this video released by the Uzbek State Security Services, nothing is spared from the ordinary brutality of war: men humiliated and handcuffed to their knees, a man bleeding to death in the mud.
Signs of distancing in 2022 already
Uzbekistan, until now, communicated extremely little about its citizens who died fighting with Russian forces. Only a handful of deaths are officially known.
From March 2022, the country wanted to distance itself from the “special operation” launched by Russia. Uzbek Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Komilov said: Uzbekistan recognizes Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity “, while asking that it be found as soon as possible” a negotiated solution to conflict. The head of Uzbek diplomacy also specified that Tashkent does not ” does not recognize the Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk “.
>> To listen also: How the war in Ukraine is reshaping the cards in Central Asia