After completing conscript service in his native Kazakhstan in the fall of 2023, Kiril Nysanbaev went to Russia for work.
Nysanbaev's hometown of Rudny is located just under 100 kilometers from Russia and it's not unusual for locals to look for jobs in the neighboring country.
Just a few months later, Nysanbaev called his family from a migrant detention center in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, where he worked at a factory.
"He said he was detained in connection with a robbery incident. He told me that Russian officers at the detention facility beat him and forced him to sign a contract [to fight in Ukraine]," Nysanbaev's twin sister Kamilla told RFE/RL.
According to Kamilla, Nysanbaev told his family that Russian officers tortured and threatened detainees to pressure them into signing a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry to go to war.
In March 2025, Nysanbaev was killed on the battlefield in Ukraine's Donetsk region. But it wasn't until June that his family found about his death.
Kamilla said the family had to make the difficult decision to bury Nysanbaev in Chelyabinsk because Kazakh authorities had opened a criminal case against him on mercenary charges.
"Police in Rudny told us that if we brought the body home, an investigation would start against the whole family, and it would take at least a year," Kamilla said. "Police told us: 'You'd better bury him in Russia and send us photographic evidence, so we make sure that you didn't smuggle the body into Kazakhstan.'"
Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries have repeatedly warned their citizens against taking part in Russia's war in Ukraine, warning them that if they did, they would face mercenary charges at home.
But Russia continues to recruit Central Asian nationals to fill the ranks of its depleting forces in Ukraine. Russia hosts millions of migrant workers from the former Soviet region.
Survivors, the relatives of the recruits, and rights activists say Russian authorities use various methods -- from offering enticements to torture and threats -- to enlist migrants and convicts from Central Asia.
'Russia Prevents Mercenaries From Leaving Ukraine Even After Their Contracts End'
The exact number of Central Asians who have joined the Russian Army and been sent to Ukraine is not known.
The Ukrainian state-run project I Want To Live -- which offers a platform for Russian soldiers to safely surrender to Ukrainian forces -- has put their number at several thousand. The project frequently publishes what it calls the list of foreign mercenaries.
The Ukrainian project said it has obtained lists with the names of more than 2,000 Uzbek nationals and more than 930 Tajiks who fought alongside Russian troops in early 2025.
In July, the project claimed that in just the first six months of this year, 529 Kazakh nationals and 327 Kyrgyz citizens signed contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry to fight in Ukraine.
The recruitment of Kyrgyz nationals has risen drastically, the project claimed. According to its lists, the number of Kyrgyz contractors in the Russian Army in 2023 and 2024 was about 360 in total. In April, Bishkek said its security services detained four people, including an employee of a Russian government agency, on suspicion of recruiting Kyrgyz citizens to fight in the Russian Army.
The I Want To Live project did not provide a list of citizens of Turkmenistan but recently reported that Russian commanders were preventing at least 68 Turkmen mercenaries from leaving Ukraine after their contracts ended.
RFE/RL cannot independently verify the names and numbers published by the Ukrainian project.
Kyiv says "mercenaries" from other parts of the Soviet Union, as well as China, Pakistan, India, and some African nations have joined Russian forces in Ukraine.
'We Write Off Your Loan If You Go To War'
There have been widespread reports and claims that Russian authorities have been targeting migrants, detainees, and convicts from Central Asia to enlist them in the Russian military since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Russian police have intensified raids on migrants in workplaces, dormitories, and mosques.
Officers round up undocumented migrants and those caught with expired residency or work permits and threaten them with arrest and deportation, according to witnesses, activists, and relatives.
Yusuf, a migrant worker from Uzbekistan, told RFE/RL he was detained in Moscow during a raid in April.
Yusuf, who gave only his first name, said the officers openly told him he must join the Russian troops in Ukraine.
"I told them I am a citizen of Uzbekistan and am not required to serve in the Russian military. Then they checked my documents and found out that I have a loan from a Russian bank.
"They offered: 'We will write off your loan and you will go to fight,'" Yusuf claimed.
"At the same time, they hit me twice with batons…. They grabbed my neck and pressed me against the wall," he added.
Yusuf said he was eventually let go after he told the officers that he would complain to the Uzbek Embassy.
Russia Enlists Convicts To Its Army
In the northern Tajik province of Sughd, one local resident told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity that her 37-year-old cousin has been recruited from a Russian prison to fight in Ukraine. The woman said that her cousin has been serving a prison term since 2019 for robbery.
"He returned to Sughd after fighting in Ukraine for six months. He said his criminal records were cleared and that he also received money for going to war," the woman said. "We're happy he's freed, but I'm not sure if it is good for society."
Since the beginning of the war, Russia has enlisted tens of thousands of prisoners in return for parole and money. Among them were many Central Asian nationals.
Multiple accounts by inmates, their relatives, and human rights groups suggest Russian officials have made prison conditions unbearably harsh and inhumane to pressure prisoners into joining the military.
"I think people should not go to Russia. Many people go to Russia on their own accord and then complain about what has happened to them," says Kamilla, who grieves her twin brother killed in Ukraine. "I warn them to avoid going to Russia."
