A Kyrgyz court has sentenced a Kyrgyz man who fought in the ranks of Russian forces in Ukraine to ten years in prison. The ruling comes at a time when Moscow is trying to speed up the recruitment of citizens from former Soviet republics in Central Asia.

Dozens of citizens from Central Asian countries have been killed in Ukraine in recent months, according to media from those countries.

The majority of these citizens had joined the ranks of the Russian army or the Russian mercenary group Wagner.

According to a decision of a court in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, which was made public last night, the 31-year-old Kyrgyz man was sentenced to ten years in prison, as he was found guilty of charges of paid military service.

The convict, who denies taking part in hostilities, was found in Donbas in eastern Ukraine between June and November in exchange for a monthly salary of 180,000 rubles (around €2,000) and claimed he had received a commitment to receive Russian passport, according to the court.

The 31-year-old, unemployed, originally from the southwestern province of Jalal-Abad, was in Moscow when he joined the forces of the self-proclaimed “Lugansk People’s Republic”.

The president of Kylym Chamy, the Kyrgyz human rights organization, Gulkhair Abdirasoulofa, told AFP today that this court decision is the first conviction of a Kyrgyz citizen for mercenary activity in Ukraine.

Russia remains the main destination chosen by migrants from Central Asian countries, who, destitute, far from their countries of origin and in most cases Russian-speaking, have thus become targets for recruitment by the Russian military and Wagner.

Russian army and Wagner promise those who wish to join their ranks to make it easier for them to obtain citizenship, offer them an attractive salary for their services or even erase convictions from their criminal records.

Central Asian countries, traditionally allies of Russia, have repeatedly warned their citizens not to join the war in Ukraine.