Combat actions in Ukraine took aback not only the Ukrainians, but also the citizens of Central Asian states who were in the country, CABAR.asia says. Many of them reportedly left Ukraine on their own by moving to Eastern Europe. The authorities of Central Asian states are trying to evacuate their citizens by organizing flights and helping on the site.
Kazakhstan
As of March 7, since the start of combat actions in Ukraine, Kazakhstan reportedly provided assistance to 533 of its citizens staying in Ukraine, and 432 of them were delivered safely to their homeland.
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 Dnepr, Lvov, Odessa and Kharkov were involved.
Also, the civil initiative group ‘El bolashygy’ reportedly 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.
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.
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 ambassador emphasized that all these facts are being closely monitored and those who violate the law will be held liable.
Currently, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are over 100 citizens of Kyrgyzstan staying in the cities of Ukraine.
Tajikistan
According to official data provided by the Embassy of Tajikistan in Kiev, nearly 1,300 citizens of Tajikistan have already left Ukraine.
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 Kiev and the country’s Foreign Ministry 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 Kiev told 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.
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.
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 city of Lvov.
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan reportedly was one of the first Central Asian countries that organized the transfer of their compatriots from Ukraine.
Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry posts rapidly all information in Telegram, the most popular social media in the country.
The Embassy of Uzbekistan in Kiev 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.”
As of March 9, 5,037 citizens of Uzbekistan were taken out from Ukraine.
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