In Uzbekistan, a court sentenced a citizen of the country to 5 years in a colony for fighting in Ukraine as part of the Russian army, reported the portal UzNews.
According to the criminal case materials, in May 2023, the citizen of Uzbekistan went to Russia in search of work. In November of the same year, he signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense for a year. After that, the contractor underwent training at a military unit near the Russian-Finnish border, and then at a training ground in the Belgorod region.
In February 2024, the man went to the front and was injured. In July, after treatment in one of the hospitals in Moscow, the citizen of Uzbekistan returned to his homeland, where a criminal case was initiated against him.
In Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, participation in military conflicts abroad as mercenaries is prosecuted by law. The article provides for a term of 10 to 15 years in a colony.
At the court session, the man pleaded guilty and expressed remorse. The court, taking into account his cooperation with the investigation, sentenced him to five years of imprisonment in a general regime colony.
In the summer, a court in Bishkek sentenced a resident of the country to five years in a colony and confiscated his property for fighting on the side of Russia.
The day before, the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Irina Volk, stated that since the beginning of the year, 3344 foreigners have received Russian citizenship in exchange for participating in military actions in Ukraine on the side of Russia.
In 2022, Vladimir Putin signed a decree on granting Russian citizenship to foreign mercenaries participating in the war. In January of this year, he issued another order for a simplified procedure for granting Russian citizenship to foreigners who signed a contract to serve in the Russian army until the end of the war. Now they will be able to obtain a Russian passport in the shortest possible time, without passing exams on knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history, and the basics of Russian legislation, and without having a residence permit. Moreover, after obtaining citizenship, they can no longer be extradited to their homeland, where they face criminal prosecution.