Tajikistan - The Times Of Central Asia

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Migrants in Russia

They Went to Russia for Work and Ended Up at War: How Central Asians Enter the Russian Military

Twenty-year-old Ainabek Keldibek went to Russia expecting to work as a security guard. Relatives of other young Kazakh men say they had taken jobs at a sausage factory and a poultry farm. But according to reports aired in early October on Kazakhstan’s KTK television channel, the men later ended up in or near the combat zone in Ukraine. Some appeared in videos wearing Russian military uniforms and asked Kazakhstan to help bring them home. On October 7, relatives of Kazakh citizens who had reportedly ended up in Russia’s military visited the Foreign Ministry in Astana to seek help bringing them home. Lawyer Meirman Shekeyev, who accompanied the families, said his list had grown from eight to 21 people as more relatives contacted him. The same day, ministry spokesperson Zhanbolat Ussenov said officials were checking appeals and would send Russia a list of citizens after verification. Negotiations over their return were underway, he said. Exactly how the men ended up in the Russian military remains unclear. One family said their relative had already been wounded, while KTK reported that the circumstances surrounding the signing of the military contracts have not been independently established. For now, much of what is known comes from the men themselves and their relatives. Their stories raise a broader question that neither Moscow nor the capitals of Central Asia have fully answered: how many people from the region have ended up in the Russian military, and under what circumstances did they get there? Nearly 13,000, According to a Ukrainian Database Russia does not publish comprehensive statistics on foreign contract soldiers. Central Asian governments have only fragmented data from criminal cases, consular appeals, and reports from relatives. The most detailed country-by-country breakdown comes from the Ukrainian government project I Want to Live. By May 2026, the project said it had identified 12,919 citizens of the five Central Asian states who had signed contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense: 4,955 citizens of Uzbekistan, 3,489 of Tajikistan, 2,420 of Kazakhstan, 1,474 of Kyrgyzstan, and 581 of Turkmenistan. These figures cannot be regarded as complete or independently verified. I Want to Live operates within Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, and Ukraine is a party to the war. In addition, 12,919 is a cumulative figure, not the number of Central Asians currently at the front. Some may have been killed or captured, completed their service, returned home, or obtained Russian citizenship. Another major estimate comes from the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Truth Hounds, and the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law. Their report estimates that Russia recruited at least 27,000 foreign nationals from more than 130 countries after February 2022. More than 10,000 of them, according to the study, came from Central Asia. The study is based on open sources, consultations with Ukrainian authorities and experts, and interviews with 16 prisoners of war and former Russian servicemen. There are no comparable publicly available Russian statistics, meaning it is impossible to...

Visa Liberalization

Tajikistan and Iran Expand Visa-Free Travel

Tajikistan says a visa-free regime with Iran has been fully implemented, allowing citizens of each country to travel more freely to the other. As of October 5, Tajik and Iranian citizens with “ordinary foreign passports” can enter, transit through, and stay in the territory of the other country without a visa for up to 30 days within a 90-day period, Tajikistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. “This system is implemented through international border crossings, including land crossings, international airports, and air routes from third countries, in compliance with the requirements of the national legislation of both countries,” Tajikistan’s state Khovar news agency reported in a story about the ministry’s statement. The visa-free regime has been in the works for several years. Iran and Tajikistan signed a memorandum of understanding about it in 2023 and introduced the policy in stages. In early 2025, for example, Tajikistan said the measure applied only to air travel between the two countries and that citizens traveling through third countries and/or land border crossings still had to get a visa. Iran and Tajikistan don’t share a land border, but they have close economic and cultural links. Land travel between the two countries would require passing through Afghanistan, or Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Those countries have their own, separate visa and entry requirements. The full implementation of the visa-free regime between Iran and Tajikistan comes as other Central Asian countries look for ways to ease travel requirements and strengthen economic and other ties. Turkmenistan says it has introduced an online visa system from this month as part of a modernization drive, though some details about the new process are lacking.

CAMCA

Opinion: The 2026 CAMCA Regional Forum Concludes – What’s Next?

The 2026 CAMCA Regional Forum has concluded in Baku after two full days of conversation on a range of topics shaping the future of the region. The closing ceremony included an official announcement that next year’s Forum will take place in Uzbekistan in June of 2027. The question now is: in the lead-up to next year’s convening, how do we build on the connections, ideas and momentum built in Baku to truly advance regional cooperation in the months ahead? How do we turn conversation into action? The mechanism and catalyst for this will be the CAMCA Network – the dynamic collection of more than 300 talented leaders spread throughout the entire region and beyond – united by a common conviction that a successful future of the CAMCA region lies in intraregional cooperation and collaboration. Through existing initiatives, such as CAMCA Talking magazine, and forthcoming projects – CAMCA TV and the CAMCA Conversations podcast – the network will utilize these innovative platforms to raise awareness around the important developments taking place within the CAMCA region, and, most importantly, to highlight where regional cooperation is well underway, where more is needed, and how leaders across sectors can do their part to drive tangible collaboration to the next level. While the CAMCA Network can serve as an important stimulus of this effort, it is critical that we continue to expand the CAMCA community across all sectors and build partnerships with individuals, organizations and companies that share our vision for CAMCA’s connected, collaborative and prosperous future. This is the charge we take from Baku and will be an integral part of CAMCA’s next chapter. From his time in public service and at the outset of the Rumsfeld Foundation’s work with rising leaders from the region, Secretary Rumsfeld believed in the incredible potential of the CAMCA region, predicated on the ten countries themselves recognizing the benefit of their enhanced cooperation. 20 years ago, there were few who shared his vision or his optimism. Today, on the heels of the 12th annual CAMCA Forum, this vision has come to life, and global interest and momentum are in CAMCA’s favor. As we look towards the 2027 CAMCA convening in Uzbekistan, we are eager to invite partners from within the region and across the globe to join us in building CAMCA’s next chapter. The groundwork has been laid, and a dedicated and energetic network of regional trailblazers now exists – let’s put it to work and bring CAMCA to a new level. The CAMCA Regional Forum is an annual, non-partisan event dedicated to promoting dialogue, cooperation, and sustainable economic growth across Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caucasus, and Afghanistan. Established as a premier platform for high-level engagement, the Forum convenes diverse stakeholders from government, business, academia, civil society, and beyond. The Forum is co-organized by the Rumsfeld Foundation, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, and the CAMCA Network. Learn more at www.camcaforum.org. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy...

Public Health

Reports of Suspected Plague in Russia Prompt Central Asian Health Checks

Reports surrounding the death of an employee at an anti-plague research institute in Russia’s Irkutsk region have prompted health authorities across Central Asia to tighten sanitary controls and review preparedness measures. Russian officials have not confirmed that the employee contracted plague or that a laboratory accident occurred. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have nevertheless announced additional checks or heightened readiness in response. Officials across the region say there is no cause for alarm, but the response reflects the sensitivity that remains around cross-border infectious disease threats after the COVID-19 pandemic. What Is Known Russian authorities have released few details, but reports say an employee at the anti-plague institute in Shelekhov, near Irkutsk, accidentally broke a test tube containing live bacteria. That employee, a female aged 27 or 28, was hospitalized on September 29, but she died on October 2. The hospital where she was treated was reportedly placed under quarantine, and nearly 200 people who might have come into contact with her are under medical observation. There are also reports that four more hospitals are under quarantine, with some 100 people hospitalized as a precaution. Russian officials deny these reports and say health specialists are on the ground in the area investigating and have urged the public to wait for an official assessment of the situation and not spread rumors. The Response in Central Asia Kazakhstan shares a 7,800-kilometer border with Russia; the distance from far northeastern Kazakhstan to Irkutsk is more than 1,500 kilometers. While that is comforting, the distance from Kazakhstan to Wuhan, China, is some 3,600 kilometers, and the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan in 2019 eventually reached Kazakhstan and everywhere else in the world. On October 5, Kazakhstan’s Health Ministry said it was aware of the reports from Irkutsk, was following the situation closely, and had ordered closer checks at border crossings and other entry points. “Sanitary and quarantine controls are being conducted at state border crossing points,” a Health Ministry statement said, “No individuals with elevated temperatures, signs of illness, or suspected highly dangerous infections have been detected across any mode of transport.” The Health Ministry said the chances of plague, or “pneumonia of undetermined etiology” crossing Kazakhstan’s borders were low. Kyrgyzstan’s Health Ministry also said it had ordered close checks of people entering the country in response to reports about the situation in Irkutsk. “Specialists monitor individuals, vehicles, and cargo crossing the border to prevent the importation and spread of infectious diseases, including highly dangerous infections,” the Health Ministry said. The same measures are being implemented in Tajikistan. Said Davlatzoda, the head of the Health Ministry’s Department of Sanitary-Epidemiological Safety, Emergency Situations and Emergency Medical Care, said orders went out that every person crossing into Tajikistan must have their body temperature measured. Workers from the department have been instructed to ask people arriving whether they are experiencing symptoms such as nausea and vomiting, headache, weakness, and muscle and joint pain. Personnel from the Sanitary-Epidemiological Safety Department have also been told to wear disposable hazmat...

Arms Trade

India Says It Exported Akash Missile System to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan

India says Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are customers of its Akash surface-to-air missile system, which can be used to counter threats including drones, missiles, and fighter aircraft. The two Central Asian countries have not commented publicly on the Akash exports, and Indian officials have not provided details about the transactions. But Indian Defense Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh has told Asian News International (ANI) that there is growing international interest in the Akash system, which Indian officials regard as a success of their indigenous defense industry. "Akash, I would say that it is one of our success stories. It shows the maturing of our indigenous missile design and production system. It is effective in dealing with high-velocity aerial targets,” Singh said. “The first customer was Armenia, which has taken multiple batteries. Thereafter, we've also exported it to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Production has stabilized.” He said there were “additional orders for our own services” and that more were expected from other countries, according to an ANI report on October 1. The agency described the sales to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as “an expansion of Indian arms exports into traditionally Russian-supplied markets.” While Tajikistan and Turkmenistan traditionally relied on Soviet and Russian military hardware, Turkmenistan has taken significant steps to diversify its arms suppliers, also buying weapons from China, Türkiye, and Italy. Tajikistan is more closely tied to Russia, though it has bought weapons systems from China. Tajikistan is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a regional alliance that is led by Russia; Turkmenistan maintains a posture of self-declared neutrality and is not a member of the CSTO. Indian officials have promoted the Akash missile system as a relatively economical option in the international air defense market. India’s state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation started developing the Akash missile system in the 1980s. In the mid-2010s, it was inducted into the Indian army and air force, which ordered thousands of the missiles. The Indian government approved Akash exports in December 2020, according to Airforce Technology, a website that reports on procurement in the military aerospace industry. The Akash weapon system can target threats including drones, helicopters, and fighter aircraft at ranges of 4.5 to 25 kilometers and altitudes of up to 20 kilometers, India’s Defense Ministry said.

Rogun Dam

Tajikistan Ratifies $300 Million World Bank Grant for Rogun Dam

Tajikistan’s lower house of parliament has ratified a $300 million World Bank grant for the Rogun Hydropower Plant, providing fresh financing for the country’s largest infrastructure project. The agreement was approved on October 1. The funding comes from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s concessional financing arm for low-income countries. It will support continued construction and equipment installation, alongside safety and environmental safeguards and support for communities affected by resettlement. The World Bank approved the grant in June. Together with an earlier package, its approved financing for Rogun now totals $650 million. Tajikistan is also raising money from other international partners. Italy committed $150 million through its Climate Fund in July. The Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, European Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and Gulf development funds have also approved or expressed interest in supporting the project. The World Bank expects up to $3 billion in concessional financing to be mobilized for the project. By August, the dam had reached a height of about 190 meters. About 145 meters remain before it reaches its planned height of 335 meters, according to Italian construction group Webuild, one of the main contractors on the project. Two generating units are already producing electricity while construction continues, with their output expected to increase as the reservoir level rises. The World Bank currently puts planned capacity at 3,780 MW and expects the plant to be fully operational in 2033. It estimates annual generation at about 14.4 billion kWh. Rogun is intended to reduce Tajikistan’s chronic winter electricity shortages and increase power exports. The World Bank expects electricity from Rogun to be exported to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Hydropower could also help balance fluctuations in growing solar and wind generation across the region. Rogun is being built on the Vakhsh River, which joins the Panj to form the Amu Darya. Reservoir filling therefore also concerns downstream Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, where Amu Darya water is extensively used for agriculture. The environmental coalition Rivers without Boundaries has criticized the project’s impact assessments, arguing that they rely on outdated data and do not adequately account for climate change or the project’s wider effects across the basin. The World Bank says Tajikistan must comply with regional water-sharing arrangements. Reservoir filling is expected to proceed gradually through 2039, with compliance monitored throughout the project. In September, the World Bank also published new resettlement and livelihood restoration documents for communities affected by construction and the expanding reservoir. The Times of Central Asia previously reported on the expansion of international financing for Rogun after Italy committed $150 million to the project.