Turkmenistan's Ministry of National Security is tracking citizens returning from abroad or deported. Officials are checking whether Turkmens have sent financial assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This was reported by Radio Liberty, citing two sources in the country's law enforcement agencies.
Officials interview people at the international airport in the capital, Ashgabat. Since January this year, the phones of Turkmen migrants returning to the country or deported from abroad, including from the European Union, have been monitored.
The publication's sources note that at least 7 citizens have already been identified who provided voluntary financial assistance to the Ukrainian army. These are Turkmens who, after the start of the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, crossed the border from Ukraine to the EU and are now returning to Turkmenistan for various reasons.
The Ministry of National Security, according to one source, also intimidated citizens with Article 176 of the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan (financing mercenaries, punishable by imprisonment from 5 to 25 years). “ However, from a legal point of view, the relevant article applies only to the financing of mercenaries, and not to the official military forces of the state,” the interlocutor of Radio Liberty added.