Court jails Fergana resident for joining Russian army in Ukraine war

The verdict was delivered on February 23 by the criminal court of Uzbekistan district in Fergana region, Gazeta.uz reported.

According to the case materials, the defendant, identified as R.E., traveled to Russia in September 2024 for work and was employed in construction in Krasnodar region’s Oktyabrsky district.

In court testimony, he said that in October 2024 an acquaintance offered him a job as a truck driver and later brought a contract on November 13.

“Because I did not understand Russian, I signed the contract and other documents,” the defendant stated.

He was subsequently taken to Moscow, where he signed additional documents after speaking with several individuals. He was then sent to Rostov Region along with more than 20 other men of various nationalities, including Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Arabs, Tajiks, and Russians.

There, he was taken to a military training facility known as “Avangard.”

“At that point, I realized my acquaintance had deceived me into signing a contract to join the Russian Armed Forces instead of a driving job,” he told the court.

Deployment and combat experience

The defendant underwent 10 days of military training, including weapons handling and drills. On November 23, 2024, he was officially enlisted in the Russian army and assigned the rank of private.

Under the contract, he received a payment of 2 million rubles, which he said was transferred to his spouse’s bank card. He was later deployed to the Donetsk region of Ukraine, including the city of Tokmak.

He told the court that troops were tasked with building defensive positions and trenches in areas under Russian control.

“Many of those who joined the ranks died during military operations. Because of this, some recruits from Uzbekistan and other countries who had been forcibly enlisted took their own lives,” he said.

Fearing for his life, he contacted his wife via Telegram and told her he had unknowingly joined the Russian Armed Forces. He asked her to report the situation to the local internal affairs department in Uzbekistan district.

Return and arrest

A relative of the defendant testified that in January 2025, R.E. said he had been misled into military service. The family advised him to leave the army, but he said this was not possible before the contract expired.

According to his testimony, his contract ended on November 24, 2025. He then traveled with his commander back to Moscow and was sent to Uzbekistan via Zhukovsky Airport.

Upon arrival at the airport in Fergana, he was detained by officers from the local internal affairs department and taken for questioning.

Court ruling and sentencing

The defendant fully admitted his guilt in court, expressed remorse, and requested leniency.

The court considered several mitigating factors, including his full confession, lack of prior convictions, positive character references, his role as the sole breadwinner, and the presence of minor children under his care.

He was found guilty under Article 154, Part 1 of Uzbekistan’s Criminal Code – mercenarism – and sentenced to three years of imprisonment. The court applied Article 57, which allows for a more lenient sentence, and ordered that the term be served in a general-regime penal colony.