Combat actions in Ukraine took aback not only the Ukrainians, but also the citizens of Central Asian states who were in the country. Many of them left Ukraine on their own by moving to Eastern Europe. The authorities of Central Asian states are trying to evacuate their citizens by organising flights and helping on the site.
Kazakhstan
As of March 7, since the start of combat actions in Ukraine, Kazakhstan provided assistance to 533 of its citizens staying in Ukraine, and 432 of them were delivered safely to their motherland. Press secretary of the president of Kazakhstan Berik Uali wrote about it on his Facebook page.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and embassies of Kazakhstan help the Kazakhstanis to move to Poland, Moldova, Hungary and Slovakia. According to official data, two evacuation flights were arranged from Poland to Almaty and Nur-Sultan.
Hotline was also opened for Kazakhstanis. For that end, honorary consuls of Kazakhstan in Dnipro, Lviv, Odessa and Kharkiv were involved.
Kazakhstani Asem Kalkaman was in Ukraine with her mother who was undergoing treatment when the armed hostilities began.
“We arrived at the country on February 7 and had to leave on February 26. A few hours before the combat actions started, we were walking around Kyiv with friends. And the following morning, we received a lot of missed calls from our relatives who said it was war here. We didn’t believe it, but then we read the news. Afterwards, our relatives advised us to contact the embassy of Kazakhstan in Poland, Ukraine, but their numbers were busy,” Kalkaman said.
According to her mother, Zhanar Kadyrbekova, it was difficult to find some transport and to reach Kyiv from the town of Brovara, although the distance between the cities was 30 kilometres only.
“Before the combat actions, we used to pay 300 hryvnia (10 dollars) to get to Kyiv from Brovara, and this time the price rose fivefold. There was no transport, no fuel, yet we managed to find a car. We were also lucky to find a taxi driver who took us to the embassy in Kyiv safe and sound,” she said.
Many of those who returned to Kazakhstan left Ukraine in a rush leaving personal belongings, money and bankcards there. Upon arrival to Nur-Sultan, Zhanar Kadyrbekova together with activists organised fundraising right at the airport for several families to provide help to them for a short time.
“A woman with two children who had been living in Ukraine for many years was travelling with us. Unfortunately, her husband was not let out to Kazakhstan on the border because Ukraine does not let their men aged 18 to 65 out due to the military emergency. So, she was left with her children in panic and without money. There were several such families,” she said.
Also, the civil initiative group ‘El bolashygy’ opened the headquarters ‘Ukraine, we are with you”, which raised over 100 million tenge (196,386 thousand dollars) in private donations, which were used to buy all the things needed. Thus, three planes with medicines, food and warm clothes were sent to Ukraine.
Kyrgyzstan
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan as of March 8, the agency managed to evacuate 91 citizens from Ukraine via Hungary. 201 Kyrgyzstanis were transferred from Ukraine to Poland, 20 people were transferred to Slovakia, 19 to Romania, 66 to Turkey, 21 to Moldova, 85 to Czech Republic, and 13 to Lithuania and Germany.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, two officers of the Consular Service Department had gone to Warsaw earlier. They visited all locations in the towns of Poland where the citizens of Kyrgyzstan were staying. According to the agency, food was organised for Kyrgyzstanis, and negotiations were held with local authorities regarding the legitimacy of stay and further transportation of the citizens of Kyrgyzstan to their homeland.
Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to Ukraine Idris Kadyrkulov in his comment to CABAR.asia noted that a “green corridor” was opened to enter third countries. In other words, citizens could enter such countries without a visa and PCR test.
“The embassy also organised free buses to evacuate Kyrgyzstanis to the border with Hungary and Poland. Also, I’d like to note that some of our citizens could reach the said borders on their own,” the diplomat said.
The evacuation was accompanied by some difficulties. According to Kadyrkulov, the country is in military emergency now and sometimes it is difficult to find buses because of the shortage of fuel at filling stations, and the departure from action areas to safe places is hindered.
“Moreover, some Kyrgyzstanis happened to overstay their visas in Ukraine, which was found out at the border,” the ambassador said. “Also, there were cases when some visas expired a few years ago, but the people did not seem to care about it at all.”
Kyrgyzstan embassy officers solved all issues rapidly on the site.
However, there were people who were trying to benefit from the situation. According to Kadyrkulov, some people were trying to earn money under the guise of fundraising for help, and some people were spreading false information about various non-existent campaigns.
“The embassy officers are working in difficult situation 24/7,” Kadyrkulov said. “And such miserable patriots hinder our work.”
The ambassador emphasised that all these facts are being closely monitored and those who violate the law will be held liable. He also said that if people want to help financially to the citizens of Kyrgyzstan in Ukraine, they’d better do it after agreement with the embassy officers. This is the guarantee that no one becomes victim of swindlers.
Currently, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are over 100 citizens of Kyrgyzstan staying in the cities of Ukraine. This information was received from Kyrgyzstanis who stay in Ukraine and their relatives. According to the agency, every citizen is kept in touch with. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic missions of Kyrgyzstan in Ukraine, Hungary, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Poland and Romania continue to solve documentation issues of citizens, as well as to find safe departure via third countries.
Tajikistan
According to official data provided by the embassy of Tajikistan in Kyiv, nearly 1,300 citizens of Tajikistan have already left Ukraine.
The third-year student of Kharkiv State University, Dilovar Sanginmadov of Dushanbe, is now in Poland. Speaking to CABAR.asia, he said that when Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, was bombed by the Russian troops, the university, where Dilovar was studying, was also under fire. Sanginmadov and his fellow students had nothing to do but flee. It was difficult to leave Kharkiv as all largest cities in this direction were attacked.
“We were in the bomb shelter for five days. The city was massively fired day and night. We made phone calls to our embassy and to the Red Cross, but they told us to stay in the shelter. We had to look for a way out by ourselves. You could travel to Lviv from Kharkiv by train only. It was very difficult to board a train as there were large crowds there. All wanted to leave this nightmare. We waited almost for two days at the station. We managed to board the train with difficulty and reached Lviv. It was 100 kilometres more from there to the border of Poland. We drove 20 kilometres by car, and we walked the rest of the distance,” Sanginmadov said.
According to him, citizens of Ukraine were freely allowed to cross the border, while it was difficult for citizens of other countries.
Now Dilovar is in Poland waiting for the decision. If the war stops in the nearest future, he is going to come back to Ukraine. Otherwise, he will have to leave for Tajikistan.
A camp for refugees in Poland. Photo courtesy of the citizens of Tajikistan who stay in the camp
According to official data, there are 4,000 citizens of Tajikistan registered in Ukraine, including 101 students.
According to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs circulated on February 28, citizens of Tajikistan may enter Poland, Romania and Moldova without a visa for up to two weeks. The ministry confirmed that some Tajiks have already moved to these countries.
Although the embassy of Tajikistan in Ukraine and the republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed their willingness to help their citizens leave Ukraine, most of compatriots staying there say that no one helps them.
One of the officers of the embassy of Tajikistan in Kyiv said to CABAR.asia that as of March 4, 1,176 citizens of Tajikistan moved from Ukraine to Poland, and over 120 to Moldova.
“So far, no citizen of Tajikistan has been hurt in this war,” the embassy representative said.
However, unlike Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, who try to transfer their citizens from the war-stricken cities of Ukraine, the officials of Tajikistan do not give any comments so far.
Tajikistan and Ukraine do not have extensive relations at the political level, but their trade and economic relations were rather developed. Ukraine supplied many commodities to Tajikistan.
The countries have a visa-free regime. Citizens of Tajikistan may stay in Ukraine without a visa for up to 90 days. Generally, migrant workers go to Ukraine from Tajikistan.
Meanwhile, since 2015 Ukraine has become a sort of a launching ground for some Tajikistanis who wanted to leave for Europe. They were people who supported the opposition and who, according to them, were persecuted in the country. There are citizens of Tajikistan in Ukrainian camps for refugees who wait for permits to get political asylum in European countries.
A Tajik refugee, Dilrabo Saidova, who lived in the refugee camp 100 kilometres away from Kyiv, said that all refugees were transferred from the camp to Poland as the situation got more dangerous.
Turkmenistan
No official data could be found in open sources about the number of citizens of Turkmenistan returned from Ukraine. The authorities of Turkmenistan have not given official comments so far.
Radio Azatlyk reported on March 2 that Turkmen students in Ukraine do not receive any support from the authorities of their country. Two days later, the same source said that after the students’ complaints were published, the embassy of Turkmenistan in Ukraine began to provide assistance in transferring Turkmen students to the border town of Lviv.
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan was one of the first Central Asian states that organised the transfer of their compatriots from Ukraine.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan posts rapidly all information in Telegram, the most popular social media in the country. The embassy of Uzbekistan in Ukraine is reported to quickly respond to their citizens’ requests and help them by posting information about how and where they should go to leave the fire-stricken towns of Ukraine.
According to the Telegram channel @Miduzbshtab, the “question of providing the air corridor to the airplanes of Uzbekistan Airways was worked out to transport citizens from Poland to Uzbekistan.”
The media of Uzbekistan reported about the first compatriots returned to their homeland on February 28. The national air carrier, Uzbekistan Airways, delivered 251 people from Ukraine via Poland.
As of March 9, 5,037 citizens of Uzbekistan were taken out from Ukraine. One more flight is expected on March 9. The embassy of Uzbekistan in Ukraine organised evacuation of 23 Uzbek students from Sumy under the aegis of the International Red Cross. They were transported to Lviv on a bus leased by the diplomatic mission.
Priority is reportedly given to the Uzbekistanis who stay in remote areas on the battlefield.
Moreover, the diplomats of Uzbekistan are in Moldova to work out the issue of transfer of their compatriots from the country.