A mercenary who fought on the side of Russia has been convicted in Uzbekistan

A court in the city of Termez, Uzbekistan, has sentenced a 30-year-old Uzbek citizen for participating in Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. The man, who deserted from the Russian military and returned to his homeland, was found guilty of mercenary activity. 

This was reported by the Uzbek publication Gazeta.uz.

The investigation established that in 2022, the defendant traveled to Russia to work, where he was later detained for drug possession and sentenced by a Russian court to nine years in prison. While in prison, the man was subjected to physical and psychological pressure, which led him to sign a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense in August 2025. After military training in Nizhny Novgorod, he was sent to the front lines in Ukraine, where he was involved in delivering food to the occupiers.

In November 2025, the mercenary was wounded in a drone attack and received treatment in occupied Luhansk. In January 2026, during his evacuation to a hospital in Belgorod, he escaped and was able to return to Uzbekistan with the assistance of the diplomatic mission. In court, the man stated that the Russian command had confiscated his passport, and he never received the promised monetary payments or Russian citizenship. The court sentenced him to 4 years and 6 months of restricted freedom, to be served at his place of residence.