Eurasianet says a group of Russians who moved to Kyrgyzstan following their country’s invasion of Ukraine are coming under escalating pressure from law enforcement in a fresh sign of how a nervous government in Bishkek is eager to avoid displeasing Moscow.
A collective in Bishkek known as Krasnaya Krysha (Red Roof), whose members have been vocal in their opposition to the war, last week reported being summoned to a police precinct and shown evidence that they were under surveillance. The collective have said they interpreted this as a form of intimidation.
On March 9, two days after that conversation, police in Bishkek said that six Russian nationals had been questioned and fined over violations of rules on their residency status in Kyrgyzstan.
The authorities have said the Russians were instructed to avoid rule-breaking, which they described as including such actions as holding public rallies and “inciting racial, ethnic, national, religious or interregional hatred.”
Krasnaya Krysha was set up by a St. Petersburg couple, Yulia and Ilya Kuleshov, who were among the first wave of Russians to leave their country in the wake of the start of the war last February.
When the Kuleshovs left Russia in March, they first tried out Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second city, but they reportedly moved to Bishkek after hearing of the capital’s lively civil society scene.
In June, they opened a co-living and co-working space that they dubbed Red Roof. The premises are in the south of Bishkek in a two-story building topped by the faded red tiles that inspired the name. The ground floor is a plant-strewn open-area space used to host seminars on urbanism, crafts and activism. In the basement, Ilya set up a workshop in which he does carpentry and makes mosaics. The upper floor is where the living quarters are located.
The collective bills itself as a venue for “crafts and creativity, activism and discussion of social problems.”
It is their focus on the war that seems to have troubled Kyrgyz officials, according to Eurasianet.
On February 24, which marked the first anniversary of the war’s beginning, dozens of blue and yellow ribbons appeared on lampposts along a street in Bishkek named after the capital of Ukraine. Police in Bishkek described this as an unauthorized display of support for Ukraine and said five foreign nationals had been detained and fined. Yulia Kuleshova later revealed that she was one of the five foreigners.
Eurasianet notes that in a related incident that also happened on the same day, a group of people linked to Krasnaya Krysha were confronted by security service agents during a flower-laying ceremony at a downtown Bishkek park to honor the anniversary.
“They … shoved their IDs in my face and barked: GKNB,” Kuleshova wrote, using the acronym of the State Committee for National Security.
Eurasianet says that domestically, meanwhile, it has strongly discouraged exercises of public activism over the war. Krasnaya Krysha is particularly vulnerable. The group has said that the last time people linked to them were detained, they were informed by police officers that they were “working closely with the Russian Embassy.” One police officer who paid routine visits to Krasnaya Krysha’s premises is said to have told them to avoid using their collective as a venue for discussing politically sensitive issues.
The GKNB has reportedly gone a step further and warned local media to avoid giving Russian nationals a platform to publicize their critical views.
