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- Convenors:
-
Marintha Miles
(George Mason University)
Caress Schenk (Nazarbayev University)
Umida Hashimova (CNA Corporation)
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- Discussant:
-
Yan Matusevich
(CUNY Graduate Center)
- Formats:
- Panel
- Theme:
- Migration
- Location:
- GA 3134
- Sessions:
- Saturday 22 October, -
Time zone: America/Indiana/Knox
Abstract:
The Russia-Ukraine conflict is causing economic, social, and political repercussions to the Central Asian states, which are also likely to have long-lasting impacts on the region. In this panel we examine the domestic and foreign policies of Russia and Central Asian states to understand the causal effects of the conflict on the economic, social, political, and migration spheres of life. We also address the sharp economic impacts of the conflict on labor migration to Russia from Central Asia. Additionally, we examine Russia’s military recruitment strategies to contract ethnic Central Asians into Russia’s armed forces in exchange for citizenship to support its military operations in Ukraine. Through an examination of policies, economic data, and interviews with key interlocutors, in this panel we seek to answer the following key questions: How has Russia shifted its citizenship and migration policies in 2022, and what are the impacts of those policies on Central Asia? In what ways have international sanctions against Russia impacted migration and migrants from Central Asia? What policies and mechanisms has Russia implemented to recruit Central Asians into its armed forces and how has that changed migration?
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Saturday 22 October, 2022, -Paper abstract:
In April 2022 a prominent Russian human rights and migrant rights activist raised alarms on social media to warn Central Asian migrant workers against joining Russia’s military amid false promises of rapid pathways to Russian citizenship and large payouts. Since the beginning of Moscow’s invasion, an unknown number of ethnic Central Asians have been killed in action in Ukraine. Rumors on social media and other reports lack clarity on the number of immigrants fighting on Russia’s behalf. This research project uses two methods to collect and examine stories of Central Asian immigrants to Russia currently serving in the Russian military and participating in its operations against Ukraine. First, I created a database of Russian and Central Asian media and social media to document recruitment efforts, recruitment stories, and the deaths and repatriation of ethnic Central Asians killed in action. Second, I conducted a survey and open-ended interviews with Central Asian diaspora members living in the United States who have extended family members serving in Russia’s armed forces. Although stories are necessarily secondhand accounts, family members provide insight into Russia’s recruitment efforts, as well as attitudes Central Asian immigrant attitudes toward the war.
Paper abstract:
Millions of refugees have left Ukraine headed West since the beginning of Russia’s assault on February 24, 2022. Several hundred thousand have moved to Russia. While this number is smaller, coupled with an activist approach to citizenship and migration lawmaking in Russia it demonstrates Moscow’s efforts to legitimize ideas of Russkii Mir and points to expansionist aims. Recent proposals include legally claiming all Russian speakers abroad as compatriots and offering offer citizenship in cases where Russia’s borders change to include new populations. While these aims are playing themselves out in stark and horrifying detail in Ukraine, what are the implications for other countries in Russia’s sphere of interest? This paper looks south to Kazakhstan and other Central Asian states to analyze how Russia’s citizenship policies work in practice and how populations to the south are reacting to Russia’s expansionist aims. The article builds on legal analysis of citizenship laws, an original dataset of prosecutions for violations of dual-citizenship restrictions in Kazakhstan, and a process-tracing approach that provides a larger geopolitical context for these legal instruments. The paper argues that while Russia’s expansionist aims are often interpreted as an existential threat to countries like Kazakhstan, especially by outside observers, the domestic view is not always one of threat perception depending on the political framing and domestic legal instruments at play. We embed our analysis in an understanding of Russia as a continually imperializing power that can be decolonized only by taking seriously the view from the “periphery”. The need to take seriously not only the colonial aspects (relevant to Ukraine) but also the racial aspects (more relevant to Russia’s Southern neighbors) of Russia’s historical and continued influence drives the theoretical framing of this analysis.
Paper abstract:
Labor migrants are usually the least involved in foreign affairs of their host countries but usually the first to take a hit on any negative consequences. The World Bank has projected that, on average, remittances from Russia will fall by 25 percent in 2022. World Bank’s estimates for January-September 2021 show that remittances to Kyrgyzstan are the most dependent on Russia, constituting 83 percent of all remittances to Kyrgyzstan. The same statistics for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan indicate less dependence on Russia: 58 percent of all remittances to Tajikistan and 55 percent of all remittances to Uzbekistan came from Russia for the same period.