Terrorism - The Times Of Central Asia

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Russia Sends Some 10,000 Migrants to War in Ukraine

During recent raids, over 30,000 people who have obtained Russian citizenship but do not want to join the military register were identified. Some 10,000 were then sent to fight in Ukraine , announced head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin. "A year ago, I instructed our divisions to create groups on the ground to work with migrants. We actively participate in raids together with other law enforcers. We - discovered, by chance, a loophole through which - migrants began to leave the Russian Federation slowly," stated Bastrykin. "The issue here is the implementation of the Constitution and Russian laws that requires anyone granted citizenship to register for military service and, if necessary, take part in a military operation." Bastrykin added that migrants who have obtained Russian citizenship "are now joining the ranks of rear units." According to experts, the bulk of the migrants sent to fight in Ukraine hail from Central Asia.

Mirziyoyev Discusses Cooperation with Russian Minister of Internal Affairs

On June 25, Shavkat Mirziyoyev received the Russian Minister of Internal Affairs, Vladimir Kolokolsev, who was in Uzbekistan on a business visit, the president’s press service has reported. At the outset of the meeting, Mirziyoyev expressed his condolences and words of encouragement to the family members of the law enforcement officers who died in the recent terrorist attack in Dagestan. During the meeting, the practical implementation of agreements between the two countries was high on the agenda. Current aspects of cooperation in the fight against terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, organized crime, cyber security and digital expertise were discussed. Particular attention was paid to the issue of increasing the effectiveness of cooperation mechanisms in the field of migration. On the same day, Ziroat Mirziyoyeva, the First Lady of Uzbekistan and chairman of the board of trustees of the Zamin Foundation, met with Hans Kluge, the director of the European regional office of the World Health Organization. At the meeting, issues of cooperation between the World Health Organization and the Zamin Foundation on improving children's medical services, including those suffering from oncological diseases, their rehabilitation, and the development of palliative care in Uzbekistan were discussed. Special attention was paid to developing and improving environmental protections, including the involvement of international experts in developing international air quality and drinking water quality standards.

Terrorism Germany Migration Afghanistan Islamic State Security

Germany Negotiating Afghan Deportation Deal with Uzbekistan

The government of the Republic of Uzbekistan may agree with the leadership of Germany on sending its labor migrants to Europe in return for the deportation of Afghan refugees. This was reported by the Bloomberg agency. According to sources, Germany is negotiating with Uzbekistan on the conclusion of a migration pact, which may include the deportation of Afghan asylum seekers, so that Berlin does not have to make direct deals with the Taliban. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has promised a tougher stance on migration, including the deportation of asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Syria. The decision follows a recent series of violent attacks and growing sympathy for the populist far-right in Germany. Interior Minister Nancy Feather, a senior member of Scholz's center-left Social Democrats party, sent officials to the Uzbek capital, Tashkent in late May to negotiate a pact on migration and deportation. Any prospective deal is yet to be finalized. Under the proposed plan, the Uzbek government would accept a limited number of rejected Afghan asylum seekers deported from Germany, and then send them to neighboring Afghanistan using private flights to Kabul. The Uzbek government is considering the idea, but wants any migration pact to also include bilateral rules allowing for the legal migration of skilled workers from Uzbekistan to Germany. According to sources, the German government's special representative for migration agreements, Joachim Stamp, will soon travel to Uzbekistan for further negotiations on such an agreement. An interior ministry spokeswoman declined to comment on the plan, which was also reported by Der Spiegel magazine and the DPA news agency. Following a fatal knife attack by an Afghan refugee on a German policeman, Chancellor Scholz, delivering a speech on law and order in parliament on June 6, said his government would allow criminals to be deported to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and war-torn Syria. "Serious criminals and terrorist threats have no place here," Scholz said, adding that the interior ministry was working on practical implementation and was already in talks with countries bordering Afghanistan. Germany previously completely halted deportations to Afghanistan shortly before the Taliban returned to power in the summer of 2021.

State Department Islamic State Security Terrorism

U.S. Blacklists Uzbek Nationals Due to ISIS Connections

The U.S. State Department, in agreement with the Republic of Turkey, has announced that it added a number of individuals to the “blacklist” of the ISIS terrorist group. The department recognized the leader of ISIS in Georgia, Adam Khamirzayev, as a “global terrorist.” All three members of the ISIS-related smuggling network have been identified as terrorists, and all three of them are from Uzbekistan: Muhammadyusuf Alisher Ogli Mirzoev is a Uzbekistani national involved in work to establish an ISIS-linked “military” training camp in mid-2023. Mirzoev is also being designated by the Government of Turkey. Muhammad Ibrohimjon Niyazov is a Uzbekistani national and a supporter of the ISIS-linked smuggling network. Niyazov has provided administrative and logistics support for ISIS members in Turkey. Niyazov is also being designated by the Government of Turkey. Olimkhon Makhmudjon Ugli Ismailov is based in Uzbekistan and is a member of the ISIS-linked smuggling network. Internal measures are being taken against all of the men in Turkey. As stated in the report, any U.S. or foreign persons who engages in certain transactions with these individuals may be exposed to sanctions, including under secondary sanctions authorities.

Radicalism Attracts Disenfranchised Youth in Tajikistan

On June 11th, eight natives of Tajikistan were detained in the United States suspected of attempting to organize terrorist attacks and belonging to ISIS. Previously, citizens of Tajikistan were arrested in Russia, accused of participating in the attack on the Crocus City Hall near Moscow. In just the past few years, natives of Central Asian states have been involved in ten attempted terrorist attacks. Zamir Karazhanov, a Kazakhstani political scientist and director of the Kemel Arna Public Foundation, believes that the deteriorating economic situation in the country is behind such radicalization. As reported by TCA, eight citizens of Tajikistan taken into custody in Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia are suspected of having links to the terrorist group, ISIS. The detentions were made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in close coordination with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. Initially, it was stated that those arrested were Russian citizens of Tajik origin, but now their nationality has now been clarified. Citing sources from law enforcement agencies, media in the U.S. has reported that officially the migrants were held in connection with the violation of immigration laws. At the same time, they have not yet been charged with making preparations for a terrorist attack. According to sources, FBI agents have been following those detained for several months, and audio picked up by a bug allegedly has one of the suspects talking "about bombs.” Several days have now elapsed, but the U.S. authorities are still to release an official comment. The authorities in Tajikistan, meanwhile, are glossing over the incident. However, a Radio Ozodi source in New York said that the detentions of citizens from Central Asian countries began two months ago, since when 20 people have been detained, including 16 natives of Tajikistan, though “some of them were later released,” the source stated. According to the political scientist and Russia expert, Malek Dudakov, 50,000 Central Asians illegally entered the U.S. in 2023 alone: 17,000 from Uzbekistan, 7,000 from Kyrgyzstan, and 3,000 from Tajikistan. "Republicans blame Biden for artificially creating an explosive situation inside the United States, which could lead to a wave of terrorist attacks. And U.S. law enforcers fear that the U.S. may also expect an October 7th scenario in Israel with simultaneous attacks by Islamists in different cities,” he wrote on the Telegram. Following the terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall, several countries, including Russia and Turkey, have tightened their migration policies toward people from Tajikistan. Kazakhstani political scientist, Zamir Karazhanov, told The Times of Central Asia that terrorist movements are influencing Tajik citizens because of the dire economic situation in the country. "During the 1990s and the civil war, a severe Islamicization of society began. Families were Islamiziced, and the economic factor, poverty, was superimposed on this. Similar processes were observed in all Central Asian countries, where religious young people began to come into contact with various radical extremist organizations. They are then processed and brainwashed into believing that everything they do is for the good...

Arrests of People from Tajikistan Who Crossed Border into U.S. Fuel Terrorism Worries

The reported arrests in the United States of eight people from Tajikistan with possible ties to a terror group has renewed concerns about extremism in the Central Asian country, which faced a backlash after the alleged involvement of some of its nationals in a terror attack in Russia in March. U.S. officials have provided little detail on the arrests of the men who had crossed into the United States from Mexico last year, though the development added to tension over the surge in illegal crossings at the southern border. Immigration and border security are a major campaign issue ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. Patrick Lechleitner, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, was asked on Wednesday about reports that background checks on the Tajik men failed to turn up any cause for concern. In an interview with the NewsNation network, Lechleitner said another agency, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, had first contact with the men as they crossed the border. “Sometimes there is just no information on individuals. I mean, it’s quite common… There is nothing,” he said. “There´s no criminal convictions, there’s no threat information or whatever on these individuals, or maybe these individuals are from an area that is particularly of concern, but that pops up later.” ICE was collaborating with the FBI and “we went out and got” the suspects after becoming aware of concerns about them, Lechleitner said. American law enforcement previously warned of the growing threat of terrorism on U.S. soil after the killing of about 145 people in an attack on the Crocus City Hall, an entertainment venue on the outskirts of Moscow, on March 22. The Islamic State group said it carried out the attack, and several people from Tajikistan were among suspects arrested by Russian authorities. “Now increasingly concerning is the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, akin to the ISIS-K attack we saw at the Russia concert hall a couple weeks ago,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told U.S. lawmakers on April 11. ISIS-K is an acronym used for an affiliate of the Islamic State branch that operates in Afghanistan and has sought recruits from Central Asia, particularly Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Crocus City Hall killings led to a backlash of suspicion against many Tajik migrants in Russia and difficult conditions for those trying to enter Russia in order to work, generating diplomatic tension between Moscow and Dushanbe and worries about the flow of remittances that are a vital part of Tajikistan’s economy. Tajikistan has not commented publicly on the arrests of the Tajik men in the United States. The Tajik government has previously said it is doing what it can to combat terrorism, downplaying questions about whether some of its internal restrictions, including on religious expression, might be contributing to radicalization. U.S. media reports, including from NBC News and ABC News, said the arrests occurred in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles this past weekend. The reports relied...