How Russia pressures Central Asian migrants into military service

In August, a wave of police raids sent a chill through Russia’s migrant communities. By all appearances, the authorities were trying to track down draft-age men from Central Asia who had recently acquired Russian citizenship but failed to complete their mandatory military registration.

Officers in multiple cities handed out military summonses on the spot and dragged migrant workers off to enlistment offices by force. There, they ran the risk of ending up like the hundreds of other Central Asians recruited to fight alongside Russian soldiers and work in occupied regions of Ukraine.

These police raids were at the center of a recent story published by Meduza’s weekly long-reads newsletter, The Beet. For more on Russia’s covert efforts to conscript newly naturalized citizens and migrant workers from Central Asia, The Beet editor Eilish Hart spoke to the story’s author, freelance journalist Sher Khashimov, and researcher Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin.

Timestamps for this episode:

• (2:25) What do we know about the recent police raids targeting migrant workers from Central Asia?
• (6:00) What Russian officials are saying about naturalized citizens
• (8:54) How do migrant workers view the recent police raids and shifts in official rhetoric?
• (11:33) Why is Russia such a popular destination for migrant workers from Central Asia, even in wartime?
• (19:19) Why might acquiring Russian citizenship appeal to migrant workers?
• (28:36) Are Russia’s recruitment efforts damaging ties with Central Asian countries?

New episodes of The Naked Pravda are released at the end of every week. Catch each show by subscribing through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or one of these other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the podcast, please write to Kevin Rothrock at kevin@meduza.io with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”

Production and mixing by Ania Kovalenko. Sound editing by Eilish Hart.