A Kyrgyz court has sentenced a man who fought for Russia in Ukraine to 10 years in prison. At the moment, Moscow is trying to recruit people from the former Soviet countries of Central Asia for the war in Ukraine.
Dozens of Central Asians have been killed in Ukraine in recent months, according to local media, most joining the Russian army or the private military group Wagner.
A court in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, announced on Tuesday evening that it had convicted a 32-year-old mercenary and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
The court found the man, who denied taking part in hostilities, was in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region from June to November last year and was paid 180,000 a month. rubles ($2,250) and a promised Russian passport.
The previously unemployed defendant, from the Jalalabad region of Kyrgyzstan, was in Moscow when he joined the forces of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic, a breakaway Russian-backed region in eastern Kyrgyzstan. ‘Ukraine.
Gulshayr Abdirasulova, head of human rights organization Kylym Shams, told AFP on Wednesday that he was the first Kyrgyz citizen to be convicted of being a mercenary in the war in Ukraine.
Migrants from Central Asia continue to flock to Russia, being destitute, far from their country and speaking Russian, they have become priority targets for the Russian army and the Wagner mercenary group. Central Asian governments, traditionally allies of Russia, have repeatedly urged their citizens not to participate in the war in Ukraine.
Source: The Delfi
