Speech by Mr Burhanov, founder of the political opposition Movement “Erkin O’zbekiston” (Free Uzbekistan) at the 1st Session of Warsaw Human Dimension Conference – 2024.

Thank you Mr Moderator, hello dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.

I am Hasanboy Burhanov, founder and leader of the political opposition Movement “Erkin O’zbekiston”.

Despite numerous statements by the Uzbek authorities regarding the fulfilment of their international obligations, the kleptocratic regime of Mirziyaev openly and unashamedly continues to ignore International Humanitarian Law. I state with certainty that in Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, the Uzbek authorities continue to support Putin’s terrorist regime.

Uzbek authorities help Russia to circumvent international sanctions and supply Putin’s terrorist regime with American and European technologies necessary for the production of military equipment. They support the censorship in the Internet. The Mirziyaev regime continues to supply Russia with raw materials necessary to produce explosives and ammunition.

At the same time, we can observe that the problem of spreading the ideology of the “Russian world” both in Uzbekistan and in Central Asia is very relevant.

The world information agenda has recently focused mainly on the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East. Unfortunately, there is an information vacuum in the coverage of the problem of the propaganda of “Russian world” in the post-Soviet space.

We recommend that OSCE participating States strengthen containment of the propaganda of the “Russian world” not only in the Central Asian region but also throughout the world.

We recommend including Shavkat Mirziyaev and his entourage in the list of persons involved in the financing of terrorism.

Thank you for your attention.