A brief exchange between United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a Bloomberg journalist in Samarkand has revived debate over the status of the Russian language in Uzbekistan.
Speaking to reporters at Registan Square on October 19, Rubio asked Bloomberg correspondent Eric Martin whether he spoke Uzbek. Martin replied that he spoke Russian fluently.
“Oh, okay. That’s no longer the official language here, but it’s good. A lot of people speak it. I understand,” Rubio said.
The exchange circulated on Uzbek social media, with some foreign outlets identifying Rubio’s interlocutor as a local journalist. However, a Daryo correspondent at the event reported that Rubio was speaking to Martin.
Russian remains widely used in Uzbekistan in business, education, the media, and everyday communication, particularly in major cities. Uzbek is the country’s only state language. Unlike Kazakhstan, where Russian is officially used alongside Kazakh in state institutions, Uzbekistan does not grant Russian equivalent legal status.
A similar controversy emerged in April 2025 after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Samarkand’s Grieving Mother memorial, dedicated to those who died in World War II.
“There is an inscription in English, but I didn’t see one in Russian. A mother is the most sacred figure,” Lavrov remarked in the presence of Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov.
Lavrov’s comments drew criticism from Uzbek public figures, who viewed them as interference in the language policy of an independent state.
Lavrov was questioning the absence of Russian at a public memorial, while Rubio was speaking informally with a foreign journalist. There is no indication from the exchange that Rubio intended to make a formal statement about Uzbekistan’s language policy.
During the summit of U.S. and Central Asian leaders at the White House in November 2025, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev addressed U.S. President Donald Trump in Russian, speaking through an interpreter. Russian was widely used in government administration and higher education across the Soviet Union.
Rubio’s exchange came two days before Uzbek Language Day, observed on October 21. On that date in 1989, legislation was adopted granting Uzbek the status of state language. In 2020, a separate law formally established the date as an official holiday.
