Authors

Joni Virkkunen¹; Minna Piipponen¹;  ¹ University of Eastern Finland, Finland

Discussion

Russia's war on Ukraine has changed Russian-Central Asian relations in many ways. Russia is one of the main destinations for Central Asian labour migrants during the last decades. Both families of labour migrants and the Central Asian states that receive a great share of their income as remittances are dependent on a country that is now at war. Based on previous research, material from social and traditional media, possible interviews and statistics, this paper examines the changing meanings of Russia in Central Asia. Reflecting broader social, political and economic dependencies, particular attention is based on the images of Russia as a country of migration. While the individual and family-level imaginaries reflect the concrete images and experiences of Russia as a country of migration, the state-level views demonstrate broader matters of history, interstate relations and colonial (or post-colonial) geopolitics.