This week’s podcast opens with new Ukrainian figures on Central Asian citizens recruited into Russia’s war against Ukraine. The state-run Khochu Zhit project says it has identified more than 20,000 recruits from the region, with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan accounting for the largest numbers. We examine the mixture of financial incentives, citizenship offers, coercion and deception behind recruitment, and the contrasting official responses in countries that prohibit participation in foreign wars. Population comparisons complicate the picture: Kazakhstan’s figure is closer to Uzbekistan’s than the raw totals suggest. Recent efforts to extract Kazakh citizens from Russia’s military also raise difficult questions about consular protection, individual responsibility and what awaits returnees at home.

Our second topic is Central Asia’s changing internet geography. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have inaugurated a 380-kilometre fibre-optic cable across the Caspian, which could provide an alternative westward route towards Europe. We revisit the Internet Society’s CAPS Unlock-supported research on Kazakhstan’s dependence on Russian networks and explain why another cable expands choice without eliminating every vulnerability. China’s role as the Caspian project’s contractor adds another dimension, alongside a separate announcement: Tajikistan’s new digital corridor to China through the Pamir Mountains. We consider what these routes could change, Uzbekistan’s interest in access, and the distinction between advertised capacity and the services users actually receive.

For our interview, recorded during ASIAC Days in Almaty, we spoke with Matthew Heneghan, an ESRC doctoral researcher at the University of Glasgow. His research examines how migrant remittances shape the economies and politics of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Money sent home begins as a private transfer between family members, but banks and governments increasingly seek to draw these flows into formal financial systems. We discuss how remittance histories can help households qualify for credit, the commercial opportunities this creates, and whether wider access to financial services comes with adequate protections for the people whose earnings sustain the system.

Links

Russia recruited more than 20,000 Central Asian citizens, according to Khochu Zhit, Khochu Zhit Telegram channel

Uzbekistan reported 338 mercenarism cases across foreign conflicts, Gazeta.uz

Tajik authorities reported no punishment for participation in the Ukraine war, Asia-Plus

Kazakh lawyer reports eleven citizens removed from the combat zone, Ak Zhaiyk

Tokayev and Aliyev inaugurate the Trans-Caspian fibre-optic line, Akorda

Kazakhstan Internet Landscape: Understanding Threats and Opportunities, Internet Society, supported by CAPS Unlock

Uzbekistan’s proposed access to the Trans-Caspian cable, Gazeta.uz

Tajikistan launches a digital corridor to China, Fergana

Matthew Heneghan’s professional profile

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