Turkmen Migrants Face Deportations As Russia Escalates Crackdown

 August 3, 2025

By TCA

By Sadokat Jalolova

(TCA) — Russian authorities are intensifying their deportation of foreign nationals under a sweeping crackdown on irregular migration, with Turkmen citizens increasingly targeted, according to Turkmen News.

Deportation Without Trial

Under new rules introduced in February 2025, Russian police and migration officials can summarily expel foreign nationals without awaiting court decisions. The measures coincide with a significant uptick in Turkmen migration: nearly 90,000 Turkmen citizens entered Russia in 2023, triple the number recorded in 2022.

Now, reports of deportations are mounting. In July alone, media outlets across several Russian regions reported hundreds of foreigners, many of them from Turkmenistan, being forcibly removed. Key figures include:

• Astrakhan Region: 200 people
• Nizhny Novgorod Region: 518 people
• Republic of Dagestan: 260 people
• Stavropol Krai: 127 people

Raids have also been carried out in other areas, though officials often refrain from disclosing detainees’ nationalities. For example, in early July, Moscow police raided hostels and prayer houses, detaining over 500 foreigners. More than 30 were later expelled for immigration violations, according to Kommersant.

A recent case in Saratov Region highlighted the situation. On July 30, the Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP) announced the deportation of three Turkmen citizens for violating migration laws. Among them: a 27-year-old former student who overstayed his registration in Kazan, a 55-year-old man whose legal stay had expired in 2024, and a 47-year-old businessman who failed to obtain a work permit. All three cited lack of funds to return home. They were escorted to a Moscow-area airport and deported, receiving five-year re-entry bans. According to Turkmen News, they will also be placed on a “no-exit” list upon return, barring them from leaving Turkmenistan in the near future.

Tougher Migration Regulations

Millions of Central Asians live and work in Russia, forming the backbone of the country’s migrant labor force. Official figures indicate that nearly 4 million citizens of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan currently reside in Russia. An additional 670,000 foreigners are believed to be in the country without legal status.

Uzbekistan and Tajikistan account for the largest share of migrant laborers. In 2023, over one million Tajik citizens entered Russia for work. However, the overall number of Central Asian migrants has been declining, driven by tighter restrictions, growing xenophobia, and fears of forced conscription. In 2024 alone, Russian authorities expelled around 15In 2025, Moscow introduced a new set of migration regulations aimed at curbing irregular migration. These measures authorize law enforcement to carry out deportations without judicial review, establish a centralized registry of undocumented foreigners, and set a deadline of September 10, 2025, for migrants to legalize their status. Those who fail to comply will face deportation and multi-year bans on re-entry.

These efforts build on previous policies, including mandatory fingerprinting and photographing of all incoming migrant workers, reducing visa-free stays from 180 days to 90, and expanding the list of deportable offenses.

The crackdown intensified following the March 2024 terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow, which was allegedly carried out by suspects of Central Asian origin. The incident sparked a wave of anti-migrant sentiment and led to a flurry of legislative activity. Since then, the government has reportedly passed at least 15 new laws aimed at “combating illegal migration.”

• About the author: Sadokat Jalolova has worked as a reporter for some time in local newspapers and websites in Uzbekistan, and has enriched her knowledge in the field of journalism through courses at the University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Amsterdam on the Coursera platform.

TCA

TCA is The Times of Central Asia. Founded in Bishkek in 1999 by Giorgio Fiacconi, who served as the First Honorary Consul of Italy to Kyrgyzstan for fifteen years, The Times of Central Asia was the first English language regional publication on the region. Building upon its extensive archive of stories, today the Times of Central Asia continues to cover politics, economics, culture, social issues, justice and foreign affairs across Eurasia.

 

Another Nail In The Coffin Of Russian Villages: Rural Post Offices Closing Across The Country – OpEd

 August 3, 2025 

By Paul Goble

There has long been a debate about what closures in rural areas mark the approaching death of towns and villages. Most point to the absence of jobs and the flight of the young, but many focus on the consolidation of schools and the closing of medical facilities. There is no doubt, however, that the closing of post offices is a clear sign of approaching death.

In the US, many rural residents fight as hard as they can not to lose their post office or at least their area codes. They don’t always win, but rural America is filled with places where the only “business” still in at least limited operation is the post office, something people look to as a sign that their town has not yet died.

But in rural areas of the Russian Federation, especially in recent years as a result of Putin’s optimization programs to save money by consolidating health care and other public services to have money for his war in Ukraine, post offices are now closing, being given expanded areas of responsibility without new funds and workers, or operating on reduced hours.

And the accelerated death of villages in rural Russia, one brought on by this trend, will further depress Russia’s birthrate which has been much higher in rural areas than in cities. That means that one Putin goal, this time increased fertility, is being undercut by another Putin policy, the destruction of Russia’s postal system.

An investigation by The Replica portal concludes that in most of the country, the postal system is in a near death crisis. Many postal workers are quitting because of low wages or expanded duties without additional funding. And post offices that used to be open normal business hours now function only a few hours a week (thereplica.io/post/pochta-rossii-crisis).

The situation east of the Urals is especially dire. In the Altai Republic, 19 of what had been 99 post offices have closed. In Krasnoyarsk Kray, only a third of what had been 800 postal stations still function. And in the Transbaikal Kray, 87 percent of the positions in the postal system are not being filled.

Observers say that even in the troubled 1990s, the situation with the postal system was not so bad as it has become since Putin launched his expanded war in Ukraine. And they add that the approaching death of postal service in rural areas will have especially serious consequences because in Russia, the postal service has performed more services than in other countries. 

Many rural Russians rely on the post for banking, the receipt of pensions, and other financial transactions. When the post office is close to where they live, this helps them to live their lives; but when the only postal office is dozens or even more kilometers away, they suffer – yet another consequence of Putin’s war. 

Paul Goble

Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. Most recently, he was director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. Earlier, he served as vice dean for the social sciences and humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn and a senior research associate at the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. He has served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Goble maintains the Window on Eurasia blog and can be contacted directly at paul.goble@gmail.com .