{"id":53150,"date":"2025-10-08T09:08:45","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T13:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/captured-tajik-tells-of-life-on-ukraine-frontlines-alongside-russian-forces\/08\/10\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T09:08:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T13:08:45","slug":"captured-tajik-tells-of-life-on-ukraine-frontlines-alongside-russian-forces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/captured-tajik-tells-of-life-on-ukraine-frontlines-alongside-russian-forces\/08\/10\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Captured Tajik tells of life on Ukraine frontlines alongside Russian forces"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Names marked with an asterisk have been changed to protect identities.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
In 2024, Mohammed* flew into St Petersburg, Russia\u2019s second-largest city, on his first trip abroad.<\/p>\n
With its perfect grid, imposing imperial palaces and \u201cwhite nights\u201d, when the proximity to the Arctic Circle makes darkness disappear in late summer, St Petersburg was a far cry from home.<\/p>\n
Mohammed arrived from Dushanbe, the sun-parched and overpopulated capital of Tajikistan, the poorest nation of ex-Soviet Central Asia.<\/p>\n
He saw the trip as a way of boosting his income and sending remittances home, like millions of Central Asian economic migrants who travel to Russia each year or live there full-time.<\/p>\n
He entered Russia visa-free, paid 6,000 rubles ($74) a month for a renewable work permit, and shared a shabby rented apartment with six others while working at a food stall.<\/p>\n
But months after arriving, the life he had carefully carved out was shattered.<\/p>\n
He told Al Jazeera that, having forgotten to pay the fee for the work permit, he was rounded up by police, beaten and denied food. In detention, Russian military officers forced him to sign up to the army, he said.<\/p>\n
He said he had no choice but to serve.<\/p>\n
He travelled to Ukraine and fought alongside Russian troops and foreign fighters on Moscow\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, however, Ukrainian troops captured him. He is now a prisoner of war (PoW).<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s military gave Al Jazeera rare access to Mohammed, one of dozens of Central Asian prisoners of war. Al Jazeera did not witness Mohammed speaking under duress, however an officer was present at the interview in a prison, in a town close to the front line.<\/p>\n
Al Jazeera is concealing Mohammed\u2019s identity for safety reasons.<\/p>\n
According to international laws, prisoners of war must be treated humanely.<\/p>\n
But several former PoWs interviewed in Ukraine and swapped later have been sentenced to jail for \u201cspreading fake news\u201d. Both Kyiv and Moscow have also traded accusations of mistreatment, torture and execution<\/span> of PoWs. Some of the claims have been confirmed by gruesome videos posted online or on Telegram channels.<\/p>\n
Mohammed lamented Russia during the interview. In addition to alleging police brutality, he claimed to have observed anti-Muslim discrimination at military training centres.<\/p>\n
Russia and Ukraine have swapped thousands of prisoners of war since the start of the conflict in early 2022. There is no official data on the number of PoWs each side holds. Mohammed said he hopes he is not transferred back to Russia and is allowed to fight on Ukraine\u2019s side instead.<\/p>\n