Photo: aif.ru
A resident of Navoi has been sentenced to three years in prison for attempting to recruit a fellow Uzbek to join the Russian army in its war in Ukraine. The appellate panel of the Navoi Regional Court upheld the lower court’s ruling, leaving it unchanged, Kun.uz reported.
According to case materials, N.U., born in 1981 and previously convicted of fraud, became acquainted in 2024 with an individual who offered her money for recruiting compatriots into the Russian Armed Forces. She traveled to Samara, where she and her accomplices coordinated their actions. A separate criminal case has been opened against her partner.
In January this year, the woman returned to Uzbekistan. She then offered a local man the chance to join the war, promising him monthly payments of $4,000 to $7,000, with the possibility of earning up to $40,000 in a year. N.U. sent the man’s passport details to her contact in Russia and attempted to arrange his illegal border crossing. She was detained by Uzbekistan’s State Security Service at the Navoi customs checkpoint in Tashkent region.
In court, the woman fully admitted her guilt, expressed remorse, and asked for leniency.
The Karmana District Court found her guilty under Article 25 (“Preparation and Attempted Crime”) in conjunction with Part 2 of Article 154 (“Mercenarism”) of the Criminal Code, which covers recruitment, training, financing, or use of mercenaries in armed conflict.
Although the law provides for a sentence of 7 to 12 years, the court imposed a lighter penalty of three years in prison.
