The most Uzbeks recruited into the Russian army are from Central Asia — media
Nearly 13 thousand citizens of Central Asian countries are participating in the war in Ukraine on Russia's side.
As of 2026, the Ukrainian project "I Want to Live" has announced that it possesses personal data on 12,666 citizens from Central Asian states who have signed contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense and are fighting or have fought in the Russian army. This information was provided in response to a request from "Ukraine - Central Asia".
The largest number of soldiers registered in the Russian ranks belongs to Uzbekistan. The project has identified 4,853 citizens of the country.
It has also been established that 3,407 citizens of Tajikistan and 2,389 citizens of Kazakhstan are serving as mercenaries in the Russian armed forces.
Kyrgyzstan is in fourth place - at least 1,439. The lowest figure was recorded among citizens of Turkmenistan - 578.
In the spring and summer of 2025, the "I Want to Live" project published lists containing the names of Central Asian citizens involved in Russia's war against Ukraine.
At that time, the project staff had information on 5,740 mercenaries. Thus, the number of identified individuals has more than doubled.
