Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine are increasingly composed of trained Central Asian militants, according to a new article by RFE/RL. Photographs taken by Reuters on June 22 in Siversk in Donetsk show a native of Uzbekistan as a member of a pro-Russian militia there. On June 24, a spokesman for the “Donetsk People’s Republic” said that any problems connected to potential foreign citizenship could be “resolved.” When asked if it was possible for a fellow Uzbek to enlist, the recruitment spokesman, speaking from Moscow, said that it would be possible.

These new findings run in contradistinction to separatist claims of militias being homegrown entities that the populace largely supports. According to the article, there is little doubt that the militias include fighters from all over Russia and Russian-friendly regions such as Central Asia. Current reports also indicate that Uzbeks and Chechens are currently at large in eastern Ukraine, fighting on behalf of the separatists.

The article further alleges that Central Asians who currently fight in Ukraine are doing so out of promises of citizenship, a tempting offer when the vast majority of unskilled labor throughout Russia is made up of undocumented Central Asian migrants.

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News Briefs:

• A University of Toronto student, Alexander Sodiqov, has been accused of spying and high treason in Tajikistan. Sodiqov is a citizen of Tajikistan, and was carrying out fieldwork on conflict resolution in the country’s Gorno-Badakhshan region. He was arrested on June 16 in Khorog under suspicion of spying for an unknown country after he met with a civil society activist. Tajikistan’s security chiefs have pushed back against Western backlash for the arrest, stating that “Sodiquov’s research activity does not mean he cannot commit crimes.”

• NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization), the security alliance framework that has existed since the early days of the Cold War, has decided not to offer Georgia a membership step – avoiding a potential clash with Russia. The Russian government has long protested the expansion of NATO to countries near its own borders, which in the wake of the Cold War, they deem unnecessary and needlessly threatening. Georgia said that it was not invited to join the Membership Action Plan (MAP) that it had hoped for. NATO diplomats reported that its members were divided over both Georgia and Montenegro’s addition to the framework – with the US demanding that former Soviet republics like Georgia and Ukraine to be approved were rebuffed by Germany and France.

• Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is set to sign a trade deal with the European Union, the very same one that caused the contentions that led Ukraine’s current predicament in the first place. The deal would pivot the majority of aid and exports towards Europe, lowering trade tariffs and opening Europe’s market of half a billion. Back in November, President Yanukovych backed out of signing the deal in November under pressure from Russia – this set off the massive protests in Maidan Square that led to the coup d’etat that removed him from power. The deal will include provisions on trade tariffs and modernization of product manufacturing and distribution – Russia has warned that it will drop Ukraine’s currently free-trade privileges that it enjoys and begin imposing tariffs.

• To make way for a large scale hydroelectric dam, the Tajik government has been resettling hundreds of families – Human Rights Watch has taken note and released a report on the government’s lack of necessary compensation to displaced families to replace their homes or restore their livelihoods. The report alleges that families have suffered serious disruptions in access to basic necessities. Tajikistan’s Rogun Dam and Hydropower Plant is one of the largest in the world, and has caused contentions with both Western NGO’s and its neighbors such as Uzbekistan, who allege that their cotton industry has been adversely affected by the dam’s construction.