Wagner Mercenary Sentenced in Uzbekistan for Fighting Against Ukraine

A 25-year-old Uzbek citizen has been sentenced to five years in prison for serving as a mercenary in Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to local media outlet Gazeta.uz.

The man, identified only by the initials U.M., left for Russia in July 2021 in search of work.

He said that in September of that year, his employer asked him to deliver a package, which was later found by police to contain heroin.

He was detained and taken to his employer’s address, but the employer had disappeared.

In March 2022, U.M. was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for drug trafficking. While serving his sentence in a colony in Russia’s Samara region, he joined the Wagner Group in November 2022.

He claimed that during the recruitment of prisoners, Central Asian inmates were separated. Three who refused to join were publicly executed, and around 200 others were forced to sign contracts.

Training took place in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region. Afterward, U.M. was deployed to the front line, where he served for about four months.

He was wounded in the leg in February 2023 and hospitalized. According to his testimony, Wagner fighters were warned that retreat would be punished by execution.

While in hospital, speaking Uzbek was forbidden and punished as “espionage,” he said. Bodies of the dead were only buried if they had identification tags.

In exchange for fighting, he was granted early release, Russian citizenship, a payment of 500,000 rubles, and medals—”For Courage” and “For the Capture of Soledar.”

U.M. later found a new job in Russia but reportedly learned that some Wagner veterans were being forcibly returned to the front line. He returned to Uzbekistan in October 2024, where he was quickly detained by law enforcement.

On April 22, Kyrgyz authorities reported the arrest of local government employees and a journalist suspected of recruiting mercenaries to fight in Ukraine.