In February 2025, news spread that an American government agency financed a website that persuaded Kyrgyzstanis to move to the Russian Federation. We have verified the accuracy of such publications.

Reports that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was encouraging massive and, as is often emphasized, illegal migration to Russia were widely circulated on February 10. They say that the department financed the relocation of citizens of Kyrgyzstan through a website that convinced them to go to work in the Russian Federation. As evidence, three screenshots of this site are provided, one of which shows the USAID logo. Some resources that spread the news claim that the agency contributed to “destabilizing the situation” in Russia through the “massive and uncontrolled import of migrants” into the country.

The news was shared by Telegram channels Zergulio (1.8 million views at the time of writing this analysis), “The world today with "Yuri Podolyak"" (1.4 million), "Live broadcast • news"(777,000), "Vladimir Rogov"(241,000), "Newsach / Dvach"(195,000), "Moment of Russia"(164,000), "Putin on Telegram"(155,000), "Unofficial Bezsonov" (142,000), "Voblya • news"(123,000), etc. Two at once notes about this published "Tsargrad". The news was also published by SVTV News.

USAID is an American government (and largely independent) agency that was created to manage US aid to other countries. This support is typically aimed at developing health and education, strengthening democratic institutions and providing humanitarian assistance.

At the end of January, shortly after his inauguration, US President Donald Trump signed a decree that suspended all foreign assistance programs for 90 days to review their effectiveness and compliance with the interests of the country. Following this, USAID headquarters in Washington was closed for staff, and employees were sent on unpaid leave. Entrepreneur Elon Musk, head of the new Department of Government Performance in the Trump government, called USAID a criminal organization and stated: “It’s time for her to die.” After this, the agency’s official account on the billionaire’s social network X turned out to be unavailable.

Resources that published news about stimulating migration from Kyrgyzstan to Russia with USAID funds use a selection of three screenshots as evidence. One of them lists a list of documents for the legal entry of citizens of a Central Asian country into the Russian Federation. The second reports on the publication of a list of Kyrgyzstanis who are in Russia and at the same time violating migration legislation. The third indicates the name of the website migrant.kg and notes that it was created with the support of USAID and Winrock is an American non-profit organization dedicated to empowering vulnerable populations.

Screenshots distributed in Telegram channels. Source: collage “Verified”

Migrant.kg - this is the official website Center for Employment of Citizens Abroad (CTGR), a division of the Ministry of Labor, Social Security and Migration of Kyrgyzstan. Its main target — assistance to citizens of the republic in the legal search for work in other states, protection of their rights and legitimate interests, as well as compliance with the legality of their stay in host countries. Work of the center financed from the budget of Kyrgyzstan.

CTGR exists since 2001, when it was opened as an information and consultation center under the State Department of Employment. Migrant.kg is an updated version of the official CTGR page. She earned in 2021, and even then no one hid that the reorganization of the portal was carried out with the support of USAID. The US agency typically allocates money to NGOs and civil associations, but working with government agencies is also not uncommon - USAID has also collaborated with Kyrgyz ministries health And education.

USAID and Winrock financed development of the website migrant.kg as part of project “Safe Migration in Central Asia”, which was launched in 2019 in all countries of the region, except Tajikistan. The program budget for five years, judging by the one published in 2024 report Winrock, amounted to $16.3 million, how much of it was spent on the site is not disclosed. The report states that the funds were used to inform citizens about safe and legal migration, identify victims of human trafficking and the Safe Airports initiative, thanks to which thematic information stands were installed at Central Asian airports. Russia or increased migration flows are not mentioned in the document.

The website migrant.kg provides information on legal employment for citizens of Kyrgyzstan in more than 20 countries, including Russia. They are selected on the basis of agreements that CTGR has concluded with other states or companies. That is, Russia was included in the list, among other reasons, agreements center with the Ozon marketplace, which is looking for workers for its warehouses, the Samokat delivery service, which needs couriers, and the Sibstroymontazh company, which is looking for construction workers. In total, Kyrgyzstan has signed dozens of similar agreements with various Russian companies, including state.

However, on the site you can find vacancies in other countries. For at least the last two weeks, CTGR has been talking in the news section about opening of registration for seasonal agricultural work in the UK, offered to work bus driver in Slovakia and invited apply for seasonal work in Turkey.

In addition to countries with signed agreements, the site includes states that are popular among migrants from Kyrgyzstan and provide the opportunity to legally find work. So, in list there are the Persian Gulf countries, several EU states, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Turkey, Korea and Japan.

One of the viral screenshots provides recommendations on what documents need to be prepared if a labor migrant wants to move to Russia with their children. Migrant.kg actually has such a list; it can be found in the section “Question - answer" Probably, answers to the most frequently asked questions appear there, but in other publications of the portal it saysthat some Russian companies cooperating with CTGR themselves give preference in hiring to married couples.

Telegram channels that spread the news about the funding of the USAID website wrote that it contributed to the massive and uncontrolled migration of Kyrgyzstanis to Russia. At the same time, according to data Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan, after the launch of the website in 2021, the number of migrants from this republic living in the Russian Federation, on the contrary, decreased by almost half. If in 2021 there were about 680,000, then in 2022 there were 587,000, in 2023 - 408,000, and in 2024 - 350,000. Rosstat publishes only statistics on arriving and departing migrants, but even there the picture is similar. The National Statistical Committee of Kyrgyzstan also does not record the growth of migration to Russia (as well as to other countries) since the launch of the site. Research by various international organizations related to migration, indicatethat the key reasons for labor migration of Kyrgyzstanis are economic instability in their country and higher salaries in the Russian Federation, and not the availability of an information resource.

Experts put forward different hypotheses, trying to explain the decline in interest of labor migrants from Central Asian countries to work in Russia. Probable reasons include, in particular, political instability after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the devaluation of the Russian ruble against major world currencies, against the backdrop of which work in Turkey, the UAE or Asian countries has become more attractive. Moreover, after the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in March 2024, organized by accused including several natives of Tajikistan, migration policy in Russia was sharply tightened. The authorities have become more active conduct raids against illegal migrants, and from 2025 in the country earned register of controlled persons: if a foreigner is included in it, he is subject to deportation and is deprived of many rights (for example, his accounts are blocked, he is prohibited from registering property and legal entities). One of justifications these measures became a statement about the high level of crime among migrants, although, as previously explained “Verified”, at least until 2022, the share of serious crimes committed by foreigners in the Russian Federation rarely exceeded 2%. Against the backdrop of toughening anti-migrant rhetoric in Russia, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly advised its citizens to avoid traveling to this country. This is the last time statement was published on September 5, 2024.

As stated above, the website migrant.kg in its current form has been operating since 2021, but attention was drawn to the plaque with the USAID logo in its “basement” only in February 2025, when numerous reports about allegedly previously unknown expenses of the American government agency spread on the Internet. According to the TGStat service, the first post on Telegram is about persuading Kyrgyzstanis to move to the Russian Federation with the complicity of USAID appeared February 10 at 00:18 Moscow time in the pro-Kremlin channel Alex Parker Returns (138,000 views). On the morning of the same day about it told blogger Sergey Kolyasnikov (Zergulio) in his channel. His post went viral, receiving 1.8 million views. Both of these Telegram channels repeatedly were mentioned V debriefings “Verified” as distributors and sometimes primary sources of false information.

Thus, there is no evidence that USAID sponsored the massive (and especially illegal) migration of Kyrgyzstanis to the Russian Federation. In 2021, the agency supported the creation of a website with legal information on legal employment of citizens of Kyrgyzstan in different countries. The presence of Russia in this list is due to the conclusion of official specialized agreements and the country’s popularity as a destination for labor migration among Kyrgyzstanis. At the same time, according to official data, during the operation of the site, the number of citizens of the Central Asian republic living in the Russian Federation has not increased, but, on the contrary, has sharply decreased.

Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons