Criminalizing mobilities: Exit restrictions in post-Soviet Central Asia

Post-Soviet authoritarianisms have seen many faces where mobilities skyrocked (tens of millions of migrants in Russia from Central Asia) and economies collapsed. Mobilities and freedom of mobility became number one topic of political agendas of many post-Soviet countries. Mobilities have been administered, organized, restricted and criminalized to address increased outmigration from Central Asia. Such counties as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (also Belorussia) introduced exit restrictions for their nationals to have a better control of their citizens and their migration plans. By now only Uzbekistan and Tajikistan abolished this system more or less only recently, whereas Turkmenistan follows a strict version of controlling mobility of its citizens both in the country and abroad. The paper is based on a decade anthropological research in the region since 2005. The paper includes a case study of Turkmen students studying outside of Turkmenistan and experiences of Uzbek nationals living abroad (before 2021). Besides ethnographic material detailing the experiences of migrants exiting Central Asia and living abroad, the paper offers an overview of the legal and political background on exit regulations.