Human rights activist Valentina Chupik spoke to the Kyrgyz daily Kloop, explaining how Russia's draft has affected the lives of Central Asian workers and how migrants are being recruited for war. No statistics are available on the drafting of migrants because the data are secret, but the migrants are forced to sign contracts for voluntary military service. How is the coercion carried out? Fraud. When people undergo a medical examination, undergo fingerprinting, and apply for patents at Sakharov, they are given a stack of paper to sign and along with other sheets of paper they are stuffed with a contract for voluntary military service. When they draw up some documents in Sakharovo, they put a sticker on the back of the passport. If the sticker has the letter V on it, it means you have unknowingly signed a contract for voluntary military service. Bullying. “And your papers are not in order. We'll deport you, or sign here.”. The person signs "right here" without reading and ends up being recruited. Direct violence (physical or psychological). People are threatened that they will be set up with fake criminal cases - for example, drugs will be planted on them - if they do not sign. In this case, the person already knows that they are being recruited. Read more about whether there are protection mechanisms against unlawful drafting, what the situation is for people with two citizenships and whether attitudes towards migrants have changed since the start of the war. (https://kloop.kg/blog/2022/10/08/legche-poluchit-vizu-chem-umeret-pravozashhitnitsa-chupik-o-tom-pochemu-migrantam-stoit-bezhat-iz-rossii-pryamo-sejchas/)
Author
FAS
Date
October 9, 2022