Uzbekistan: why the Russians leave the republic?

During a trip to Uzbekistan our correspondent met the chairman of the board of the Samarkand regional office of the Russian Cultural Center Yury Mikhaylovich Ognev who told about the life of the Russian community in the republic. In our opinion, there is a number of the facts which cause interest concerning a situation in the republic:

How many Russians live in Uzbekistan?

In the Internet the assessment of number of the Russian community in Uzbekistan appears in one million people. Actually now there are 700 thousand Russians in Uzbekistan and one million is a “Russian-speaking” population. In Soviet period across Uzbekistan the figure made 1, 6 million people as a whole. Two thirds of all Russians live in Tashkent, the others in the large cities. In Samarkand there were 160 thousand Russians in Soviet period and about 30 thousand Russians remained today.

There were already three waves of emigration

There were three big waves. In the first wave everyone who had money and opportunity somehow to be equipped in Russia left. This wave was very big. Here many factors affected, for example, the language barrier, isolation from communication – the news are shown at local TV channel in the Russian language only 30 minutes.

The wealthy people left the republic in the first wave and the experts in the second. After disintegration of the Soviet Union there were plants, buildings stopped, there were few workplaces and even highly qualified specialists didn't find work. Here they also began to depart …
As for the third wave, people began to leave as the requirements to knowledge of the Uzbek language became tougher. Without the language knowledge they weren’t be accepted and are not accepted today to the work … But it is a question not of examination, but of interview.

Especially the village suffered in such situation. The republic big, it is a lot of the youth. The echelons went earlier to serve to the Soviet army… After demobilization the boys came back, already knowing the Russian, and some even brought the Russian wives home. As a result in the village all knew Russian. All families spoke the Russian – it was in a life.

For the years of independence that generation left and the new has no opportunity to train the children in the Russian language any more. Especially, there are no teachers of the Russian in the village. Now in the republic understood that it is impossible without the Russian language – began to show more requirements. But already especially to nobody …

How the Russian is necessary in the republic?

The Russian language is taught from the third class and two hours per week. Two hours are very little, of course. Three hours are allocated for English, for example, and already from the first class. People see all this and it can't please them.

There are 81 schools in Samarkand, in 37 from them the training are conducted in the following way: a half of classes is in the Russian, the second - in Uzbek. Interest to the Russian language is great: in total a few years ago there were only 12 such schools in the city. In the last 6-7 years the admission to the Russian classes at schools makes 4-5 classes. Many want to give the children on training exactly in the Russian language. There is a school (No. 35), in which only the Russian classes. And so, in 2012 there were nine Russian first classes! And not all wishing got there. In Samarkand there are 95 kindergartens, 51 from them have the Russian groups.

There is a lack of literature in the Russian language…

A few years ago even in the cities there were no teachers, subject teachers, textbooks, literature. Three years ago I received 4000 textbooks from Rossotrudnichestvo – then we organized the Russian language rooms in 40 colleges, both in the city, and in areas. We gave even the textbooks of the first or second classes that to begin studying the language from the very beginning.

Now this help is stopped. It is necessary, of course, but the republic believes that we are self-sufficient, and therefore the help from the outside isn't necessary. The initiative isn't welcomed … The Russian embassy, however, subscribes to magazines for us: we receive both “Preschool education”, and “School education”, and “The Russian language” … We helped some schools with a subscription.

How many mass media appear in the Russian language?

In Samarkand there is “Samarkand messenger” in the Russian two times a week. There are two more private editions: “Darakchi” and Lady Newspaper. From 235 printing editions in the republic, about 40 are published in the Russian or only 17%. As for television, the old movies and news are shown on local television repeatedly. There were transfers of the Russian edition earlier, now they aren't present, only news of 30 minutes in day in the Russian. People regret that there are no analytical, entertainment events in the Russian – the need is big.

There are few Russians among the deputies today

In the republic the deputies, the Russians on a nationality, still meet, but not as earlier. But in Samarkand they aren’t present. And earlier they were, of course. For example, I was the deputy of five convocations …

Many plants are absent already …

I well know the republic: after all it happened to work much in central office. The peak of the industry development in the republic was in the last 5-10 years before disorder of the Soviet Union. Plants were under construction of the allied value. Now they already stopped the existence in the majority. The Red Engine plant practically doesn't exist any more, and after all during the war it was evacuated as the valuable enterprise to us from Novorossiysk. Many people came from all big country here to buy the piston group for tractors which this plant let out: there was a turn…

The elevator plant provided the half-country once; now it is tried to restore, but there is no personnel, not enough orders and those already with the joint venture with Russia. They try to restore as well the plant of home refrigerators – understood that there is a requirement in the republic. But as I already told, it is bad situation with the experts. Too many left …

About the work of the Russian Cultural Center

10 national cultural centers work in Samarkand: Russian, Armenian, Tatar-Bashkir, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Polish, Jewish, German, Korean and Tajik.

And on the scale of all republic, the International Center works: it is as though our small UN. It unites 130 centers – on number of the people living in the republic. In Samarkand the Russian center works rather actively. In 2010 the president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev awarded our center with the Certificate of honor in connection with 65 years of the Victory in World War II.

We are engaged not only cultural work though, for example, in Samarkand all know the chorus “Coevals” and Topotushka ensemble. We care of veterans of the Great Patriotic War: they remained 160 people only, from them 37 are the Russians. On our brotherly cemetery 288 graves of soldiers of those who died in the years of war in hospitals – we look after them not only to festive dates, but constantly. We know the names of all who gave life for the Homeland.