Highly reputed, Russian specialists have flocked to several former Soviet countries since the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, to take shelter from repression and the looming economic crisis.

In Uzbekistan, a country in Central Asia, the authorities hope to take advantage of their arrival to accelerate the modernization of an economy based on the production of raw materials, such as cotton or gas.

Just one day after Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24, the Uzbek government introduced a simplified procedure to welcome Russian IT specialists and technology companies.

This program offers visa, housing and childcare assistance to individuals, as well as tax exemptions to businesses.

It has already attracted some 2,000 foreign computer scientists, the government says.

Exodus of Russian computer scientists

"The country welcomed us as if we were one of their own. The people are so friendly and welcoming," says Anastasia Markova, 22, from Russia, who recently became public relations officer for the country's computer park, run by the authorities in the capital Tashkent.

This woman was to marry in Russia in April but she fled Moscow for Tashkent with her fiancé, now an employee of a group domiciled in this computer park.

The couple are now aiming for a permanent residence permit.

She says she is at ease in the Uzbek capital, where Russian is still widely spoken three decades after the country's independence from the collapse of the USSR.

Employees of the IT Park technology park, April 4, 2022 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan Yevgeniy Sorochin AFP

But the law of silence imposed in Russia around the invasion of Ukraine weighs beyond Russian borders: Anastasia Markova limits herself to saying that her departure "hasty, as for many" is due to "a set of political factors and economic".

Several other Russian citizens contacted by AFP after settling in Uzbekistan refused to speak, citing their fear of being identified as critics of the Russian regime.

In Tashkent, the technological park welcomes more than 500 companies which must concretize the ambition of the authorities: to reach the billion dollars of exports in this sector by 2028, that is to say a multiplication by 25 compared to 2021.

Inside the park, young employees work on computers, casual clothes and helmets screwed on the ears.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, between 50,000 and 70,000 professionals in the sector have left Russia, estimated on March 22 a Russian lobby, the Electronic Communications Association.

For now, Uzbekistan is lagging behind in hosting them, less popular than Georgia, Turkey or Armenia.

This delay reflects the country's delay in developing the technology sector, with power cuts frequent, even in the capital.

"Repression"

But the speed of the Uzbek internet has "significantly increased", leading to a doubling of exports in this sector in 2021 compared to the previous year, said Bakhodir Ayupov, deputy director of the Tashkent technology park.

The long inaccessible telecommunications tool Skype was recently unblocked in what was seen as a move by the authorities.

The logo and motto of the IT Park technology park, on April 4, 2022 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan Yevgeniy Soroshin AFP

But the social networks Twitter and TikTok, as well as the "Russian Facebook" VKontakte remain blocked in this authoritarian republic of 35 million inhabitants.

Despite these difficulties, some of the Russians who arrived in Uzbekistan prefer to stay there rather than return to Russia.

"At first we thought we would only stay a few days but we decided to stay longer. People who were total strangers were so good to us," said Olga, 42, who requested anonymity by fear of reprisals.

Installed in the historic Uzbek city of Samarkand with her husband just after the start of the conflict, she does not plan to return to Russia, where "the machine of repression is running, and for a long time".

© 2022 AFP