Close-up on the finely detailed features of the Burana Tower, an ancient minaret in Kyrgyzstan. It is one of the last remnants of Balasagun, an ancient city that was notably one of the political and economic centers of the medieval Qarakhanid dynasty (840–1212). In 1041, this dynasty split into two kingdoms, ruled by two khans: one in the east, one in the west. Bukhara was the capital of the western kingdom, while Balasagun was the residence of the eastern king. The city of Balasagun established itself as one of the centers of Turkic-Muslim culture within the dynasty, contributing to the integration of the Turkic language into the Muslim world. This status was notably reflected through works of courtly poetry (or mirrors for princes) such as The Wisdom of Royal Glory (Kutadgu Bilig), written by Yusuf Balasaghuni in the 11th century.

Photo credit: Tolgahan Biskin (France)

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Morning mist – but not just that – hangs over Almaty. In barely a quarter of a century, urban sprawl, coupled with the loss of the city’s green spaces, has created the conditions for trapping the pollution generated not only by heavy road traffic but also by coal-fired power stations.

Credits : Simone Bergonzi (Italy, @simobergz)

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In the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz special forces (spetsnaz) soldiers march in rows equipped with Russian AK-74 assault rifles.

Credits : Pierre-Armand Dussex (Suisse)

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Kok-boru carries on an ancient equestrian tradition dating back to the time of Zoroastrianism. The principle of this game, which is very popular in Central Asia and similar to the Afghan game of buzkashi, is as follows: the riders compete for the decapitated carcass of a goat, which they must wrest from their opponents before carrying it to the kazan, the opposing team’s goal.

Photograph taken in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Credits : Salomé Aldeguer-Roure (France)

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The Kutlug Timur minaret, named after a khan of the Golden Horde, towers over the site of Konye-Urgench at a height of 60 metres. 

Konye-Urgench, or Urganj, is a major historical site, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the far north of Turkmenistan. 

The city reached its peak between the 10th and 14th centuries as the capital of Khwarezm. Although ravaged in 1221 by Genghis Khan during the Mongol invasion of Central Asia, it was rebuilt and quickly regained its status. However, in 1373, Tamerlane conquered Khwarezm. In 1388, he razed the city to the ground, massacred its population and destroyed the irrigation system. This event, combined with a change in the course of the Amu Darya, marked the beginning of Konye-Urgench’s decline. In the 16th century, the city was replaced by Khiva as the regional capital, and was subsequently gradually abandoned.

Photo credits : Anton Pfaller (Germany, @apr_jnr)

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High in the mountains of Tajikistan, two young girls lead their small herd of cows to pasture.

Photo credit: Cyril Caldero (France)

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In Tashkent, Uzbekistan, temperatures usually exceed thirty degrees in summer. A refreshing break is particularly welcome. The summery colours of the young girl’s outfit in the photograph complement the façades of the houses perfectly.

Credit : Daria Novikova (Uzbekistan, @dasha.novasha)

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In Khiva, one of Uzbekistan’s most popular tourist destinations, visitors flock to enjoy a panoramic view of the entire city.

Photo credits : Salomé Aldeguer-Roure (France)

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In Almaty, Kazakhstan, stands this monument dedicated to two heroines of the Soviet Union, Aliya Moldagulova and Manchouk Mametova. These two female fighters distinguished themselves through their courage and marksmanship during the Second World War. Manchouk Mametova was killed by German forces on 15 October 1943 at the Battle of Nevel. Aliya Moldagulova, for her part, was killed in January 1944 whilst her brigade was attempting to ambush German troops. This memorial was unveiled on 25 October 1997. Depicted in military uniform by the team of sculptors, the two heroines are marching in step.

Credits : Ana Muñoz

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Just like their human owners, domestic cats have their own distinctive characteristics in every region of the world. Genetic analyses have revealed that the domesticated species (Felis catus) most likely spread from the Near East to Asia through trade along the Silk Roads. It did not finally reach China until around the 8th century AD. Khiva, Uzbekistan.

Credit : Margaret Bullich (Germany)

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Citizens from Central Asia now represent the largest group of foreign nationals fighting in the Russian army. Novastan spoke with several of them after their capture by Ukrainian forces. Their accounts reveal how Central Asian migrants have become an especially vulnerable recruitment pool for Moscow.

In the yard of a military prison in Lviv region, West Ukraine, dozens of prisonners silently head towards the dining hall. The walls surrounding them are filled with portraits of Ukrainian prominent nationalist figures such as Daniel of Galicia or Stepan Bandera. In the largest prisoner camp in the whole country, everything is in Ukrainian, from the inscriptions to orders given to prisoners.

“There is no trouble here, they are pretty calm and do not brawl much” says a prison guard. In front of him, prisonners start entering the lunchroom, their faces blank. Some of them have already been detained for four years. Many prisonners clearly appear to have Asian features. Among them, some Russian citizens from Siberian republics of Buryatia and Yakutia, where mobilisation rates are particularly high.

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Many others come from the five former Soviet republics in Central Asia. “From what I saw, a majority of foreigners in the Russian army come from this region”, explains Khushbakht Peruzaliev. In spring 2024, the 47-year old Tajikistani citizen signed a contract to serve the Russian Army : “I was told that I would not have to go to the front or anything of this kind. They said I would only be working in a warehouse, so I accepted”, he remembers. But soon, these promises revealed to be lies. Few weeks later, the man was captured by Ukrainian forces after being injured in a frontal assault in Donetsk oblast.

Far beyond the 1,400 Africans or 200 Indian citizens that the Russian army recruited since the beginning of the war, more than 12,000 soldiers from Central Asia have already participated in the “special military operation”, according to public data published in April 2026 by the Ukrainian war prisoners coordination. More than half of foreign soldiers serving Russia are originally from Central Asia.

Passport promises amid raids and deportations

In Mykolaiv penitentiary, all Central Asian soldiers that Novastan met were already in Russia before 2022. “Recruitment efforts towards foreigners were targeting on both migrant workers and people who were in jail”, according to an officer of the Ukrainian coordination of war prisonners.

Ilyas, a 40-year old Kyrgyz citizen, worked as a drink retailer in Moscow since 2007. He signed his contract in April 2025. “During the hiring process, they didn’t directly promise me citizenship, but I knew I would have the possibility to obtain it after” he says.

Novastan est le seul média en français et en allemand spécialisé sur l'Asie centrale. Entièrement associatif, il fonctionne grâce à votre participation. Nous sommes indépendants et pour le rester, nous avons besoin de vous ! Vous pouvez nous soutenir à partir de 2 euros par mois (défiscalisé à 66 %), ou en devenant membre actif par ici.

Indeed, in January 2024, a decree was signed by Vladimir Putin, allowing certain foreigners to obtain Russian citizenship under the condition that they served the army, especially during the “special military operation”. The number of foreigners who benefited from this process remains unknown.

In Ukraine, most prisoners from Central Asia mention that they were sent to the front only after a short training, which caused heavy casualties. “We were moving to a village, when on the road, drones already started appearing and targeting us”, Ilyas remembers. He barely escaped, only to be taken prisoner shortly after.

Khushbakht Peruzaliev, a prisoner whose wife and children still live in Ryazan, 200 kilometers south east of Moscow, was harmed during an intense artillery bombing, while he was moving towards Ukrainian lines. “Half of the group was killed immediately, all 200 [Russian military code for death, Editor’s note]”. 

He describes a general climate of fear that began to appear “right after the Crocus City Hall attack”. This terrorist attack committed by Tajikistani citizens was claimed by the Islamic State of Khorasan, and killed 149 people. Following this tragedy, living conditions of Central Asian migrants in Russia got tougher. “Raids against Tajiks” became frequent, during which migrants were “barred from Russian territory”, according to Khushbakht Peruzaliev.

The Tajik migrant abandoned plans to renew his expired passport, for fear of being arrested on his way to the embassy in Moscow. “Eventually, special police forces started checking the construction site where I was working”, he explains. During police controls, he was promised to obtain citizenship if he accepted to join the army.

Caress Schenck, a political science professor at Nazarbayev University in Astana, acknowledges that “Tajiks were indeed more targeted than other ethnic groups from Central Asia, after the Crocus City Hall attack”. According to the Ukrainian coordination of war prisoners, Tajiks represent the second most represented nationality in the Russian army, with more than 3,400 recruits, while 4,800 Uzbeks and 2,400 Kazakhs also joined the army.

Caress Schenck reminds that, however, in Russia “migration control policies, raids and pressure to join the army are still highly influenced by the news cycle”.

Other ethnic groups have also been targeted since the beginning of the war, depending on the context : “Sometimes, anyone with Asian features can be perceived as suspicious”, according to the researcher.

Since November 2025, some foreigners in Russia are required to present a commitment contract in the army to obtain Russian citizenship or a residency permit. People from Central Asia are particularly impacted by these policies, as they make up more than 40% migrants living in Russia in 2020.

Despite that, all prisoners met by Novastan explain that they signed the contract by their own will to obtain a Russian passport, Caress Schenck mentions a strong administrative pressure on migrants that “reduces their ability to act and make their own decisions, rather than offering them a real choice”

The ideological vulnerability of migrants

In addition to the precarious administrative status of Central Asian migrants, the Russian army bases its mobilization stategy on shared ideological patterns. “As for me, I wanted to live in Russia. I considered that I had the right to obtain citizenship, so to earn it, I had to serve the homeland” says Jasur Islamov with a detached voice. After a year and a half in the army, in March 2025, the 38-year old man was promised he would obtain citizenship if he continued serving. A few weeks later, Jasur Islamov was captured, after being wounded by a drone strike.

Ilyas, Islamov and Khushbakht never tried to surrender on purpose, unlike accounts from other foreign prisoners of war fighting for Russia, such as African recruits. This behaviour at war could be explained by the fact that parts of migrant populations in Russia are already “Russian speakers, born in the 1970s or 1980s, under the Soviet Union”, according to the Ukrainian coordination of war prisoners.

Prisoners met by Novastan also state that they wish to go back to Russia, hoping to be included in a prisoner exchange. “We have nothing against an exchange of prisoners from Central Asia”, says the Ukrainian coordination of war prisoners. However, among the 7,000 Russian soldiers already exchanged, those originally from Central Asia remain a small minority. 

When Novastan asked them about their experience with racism in Russia, before or after serving, all assert that they “never” faced it. They are confident in their ability to rejoin Russian society after their detention, once they obtain a passport. “Could you imagine that I risked my life to obtain citizenship, and they would send me back to my country, when I have nothing left there ? It would be a huge betrayal” says Jasur Islamov, bitterly.

However, it would not be the first time that these war prisoners face disappointments related to their migrant experience in Russia. Despite being married to a Russian woman for years, Ilyas failed to obtain a passport : “I submitted all documents to apply for citizenship, a long time ago, but it was refused”. Jasur Islamov admits that he “did not even receive any money from the contract”, with only two months paid out of the eighteen months he spent in the army.

Novastan est le seul média en français et en allemand spécialisé sur l'Asie centrale. Entièrement associatif, il fonctionne grâce à votre participation. Nous sommes indépendants et pour le rester, nous avons besoin de vous ! Vous pouvez nous soutenir à partir de 2 euros par mois (défiscalisé à 66 %), ou en devenant membre actif par ici.

“I believe it would take years to dismantle internalized discriminations” Caress Schenk explains. The researcher reminds that in the Soviet imagery, racism was seen as inherent to capitalism and the Western bloc.

Citing the Geneva convention, the Ukrainian coordination of war prisoners explains that Central Asian citizens are treated the same as other prisoners. In the courtyard, on the weight training benches, Central Asian prisoners exercise alongside their Russian cellmates.

“We never thought we would end up here”, says Jasur Islamov. When he is reminded that he signed consciously and was aware of risks, the Uzbek detainee bristles : “You are talking as if I specifically signed to kill people… I only needed a place to live, a passport, to work and feed my family”. After a silence, he adds, regretfully : “I’m not saying we made the right decision. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone”.

Driss Rejichi,
Contributor for Novastan France

Translated by Elea Muresan

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Four immaculate pickup trucks race at full speed toward the Derweze crater. Known as the “Door to Hell,” this site in Turkmenistan draws the handful of foreign tourists who manage to obtain a visa each year. Seventy meters across, the Derweze crater has been burning continuously since 1971, when Soviet geologists discovered the site and began setting up drilling infrastructure. The ground beneath a platform gave way, opening up the wide Derweze crater. Once it had collapsed, the pit was set alight to burn off the gas, rendered unusable, and limit the consequences of the vast quantities of methane suddenly venting into the atmosphere. At the time, combustion was not expected to last more than two weeks. The “Door to Hell” has now been an open-air inferno for 50 years: the stuff of photogenic landscapes, and a symbol of ecological disaster. Located in the Karakum Desert, a territory roughly the size of Germany, natural gas reserves are trapped between countless sedimentary layers, ensuring a slow but unrelenting burn.

Photo credits : Anton Pfaller (Germany, @apr_jnr)

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The Bibi-Khanym Mosque in the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan is one of the largest mosques in Central Asia. It is named after one of the wives of the Turkic-Mongol conqueror Tamerlane. Construction of this important building began in 1399 and was completed five years later, in 1404. The haste with which Tamerlane himself, upon his return from a victorious expedition to northern India, insisted on the work being carried out meant that a solid structure could not be built. Indeed, the mosque began to deteriorate very early on and was permanently damaged by the 1897 earthquake. Today, the restoration and preservation of the mosque are the subject of controversy. In 2024, however, Qatar committed to supporting the restoration of the iconic mosque.

Credits : Tristan Bjalon (France, @tristanbja)

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Wherever you are, when a herd is on the road, cars have to wait. Gharm, Tajikistan. 

Credits: Etienne de Vaumas (France)

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Turkmenistan stands as the most extreme case of authoritarianism in Central Asia. From 1991 to 2006, the Saparmyrat Niyyazov state established a near-total grip on all public and private life, shutting down every library and hospital outside the capital on the grounds that the country had no need of them. By the same logic, Covid-19 never, according to regime sources, reached Turkmenistan. Internet access is severely restricted, cinema and opera are banned, and the bulk of university and religious education was reduced to drilling the precepts of the Ruhnama : a text attributed to Niyyazov blending Quranic doctrine, moral instruction, historical revisionism, and elements of Turkmen folk culture. Niyyazov’s towering legacy was somewhat cut down to size by his successor Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who cracked the country open to foreign investment and marginally widened internet access, though under tight surveillance. He carried on the tradition of having golden statues of himself erected in the capital’s centre, while quietly shipping his predecessor Niyyazov’s to the outskirts. Autocrats are rarely generous with the limelight.

Photo credits : Anton Pfaller (Germany, @apr_jnr)

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Danil Usmanov will present a photographic reportage at the L’Aléatoire gallery (Paris), taken in the Batken region of southern Kyrgyzstan, exploring the theme of migration. 

Danil Usmanov, a Kyrgyz photojournalist, currently works with major media outlets (Le Monde, The Guardian, Eurasianet, etc.), but here at Novastan we are proud to have featured his debut work back in 2014. The photograph shown on this page is from a report produced south of Lake Issyk-Kul in 2014. In 2020, we featured his work as part of our series “Central Asia through the lens of …”.

Danil Usmanov’s exhibition “The Valley of the Winds” at the L’Aléatoire gallery, from Saturday 6 June 2026 until Saturday 13 June 2026.

Credits : Danil Usmanov (Kyrgyzstan, http://danilusmanov.com/)

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In Konorchek Canyon, about two hours from Bishkek, the mineral landscape unfolds in shades of ochre.

Credits : Salomé Aldeguer-Roure (France)

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The imposing statue of the famous writer Mukhtar Auezov (1897–1961) stands in front of the theatre named after him in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Erected in 1980, this bronze sculpture by the Kazakh sculptor Yesken Sergebayev pays tribute to the author of the novel “Abai”.

Credits : Simone Bergonzi (Italy, @simobergz)

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At the foot of the barchan dune, this goitered gazelle breathed its last. Barely fifty years ago, this species was on the brink of extinction. Today, around 5,000 animals once again roam Altyn-Emel National Park, Kazakhstan.

Credits : Gereon Wintz (Germany)

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A classic scene in Tajikistan: at the end of a flower-lined avenue with immaculately trimmed borders, the portrait of President Emomali Rahmon reigns supreme. A former Soviet apparatchik, he carved out a presidential role for himself in the aftermath of the USSR’s collapse. He proved particularly adept at neutralizing opposition forces during the civil war that scarred the country from 1992 to 1997. Since then, he has ruled with a paternalistic iron fist, criminalizing all political opposition. His portrait is plastered across every public space in the country. Post offices, police stations, tennis courts, customs posts, border crossings : all are graced with a likeness of the country’s strongman, tailored, naturally, to the theme of the building. A simple taxi ride is enough for any visitor to get acquainted with President Rahmon: through the window, he’ll catch a glimpse of him here playing tennis, there cradling sheaves of wheat, waving to a crowd, or shaking hands with the leaders of neighboring powers. Here, in the country’s second city, Khujand, he allows himself a bucolic stroll through a field of flowers.

Credits : Marc Brédif (France)

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