Special Report: Central Asians in Russia. Migration, discrimination, and racism
- Genocide Watch
- 5 minutes ago
- 1 min read
By Kristie Moore
Russia is home to a significant population of migrants from Central Asia: according to a 2024 Human Rights Watch report, approximately 1,792,000 Uzbek, 1,231,000 Tajik, and 262,000 Kyrgyz migrants reside there. These migrants come primarily in search of work, usually in unskilled labor fields, such as construction, transportation, retail, or rural agriculture. The migrants seek higher wages than they can earn in their home country, and they plan to send those wages home in the form of remittances which are often critical in maintaining their families’ livelihoods. The economies of many Central Asian countries are highly dependent on remittances: Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan are among the countries with the highest remittance rates in the world, frequently ranking within the top ten in the world, with remittances hitting a record high of 79 billion USD in 2022. Such dependency of the Central Asian economies is a lasting legacy of the Soviet Union.
Unfortunately, in Russia, Central Asian migrants face many hardships, including frequent collisions with Russia’s predatory migration policies, exploitation in the workplace, and racism. These hardships have only worsened since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine War and the Crocus City Hall Attack. In just the first six months of 2024, 85,800 Central Asian migrants were deported from Russia. There was also a sharp increase in anti-migrant sentiment and violence from both the state and communities. These incidents have directly impacted the daily life of Central Asian migrants, leading some to rethink the benefit of continuing to reside in Russia.
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