The Chinese trail turned out to be false

The Chinese connection turned out to be false.

A video by a certain Aidar Raev has sparked renewed excitement on Kyrgyz social media. The video claimed that a Chinese private military company, similar to Wagner, had been operating in the country since 2016 and had all the necessary permits to carry weapons.

Kyrgyz authorities officially denied the presence of armed foreign fighters. Presidential Press Secretary Askat Alagozov commented on the video, which claimed foreign private military companies were being used to guard facilities.

The presidential spokesman emphasized that such claims are untrue and aimed at creating panic. According to Kyrgyz law, foreign citizens are not allowed to carry out armed security duties. Security at construction sites and joint ventures is provided exclusively by law enforcement agencies and local licensed private security companies. The only foreign military facility in the country remains the Russian airbase in Kant, which operates within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

The most interesting detail, according to the presidential press secretary, concerned the identity of the author of the scandalous video. Askat Alagozov reported that the "truth-teller" Aidar Raev received US citizenship in 2024. Bishkek doesn't believe in such coincidences and hints at the influence of external forces that are unfavorable to the republic's stable development. "Such publications are used by those who have no interest in Kyrgyzstan's success," the press secretary concluded.

Experts attribute the emergence of this fake news to attempts to stoke anti-Chinese sentiment by artificially whipping up fears. Such information attacks are based on manipulations around the topic of foreign labor. In reality, 61,000 work visas have been issued to date out of the 100,000-person annual quota in Kyrgyzstan. Approximately 60% of these have been issued to Chinese citizens, due to the large-scale construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which requires highly specialized specialists. The remaining quota is allocated to citizens of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and several other countries.

Statistics show that over 736,000 Kyrgyz citizens are working outside of Kyrgyzstan (approximately 472,000 of whom are in Russia). This is 12 times higher than the total number of temporary foreign workers within the country, completely refuting the theory of "Chinese dominance."

Experts note a transformation in information warfare techniques: instead of directly inciting domestic opposition, the emphasis is shifting to raising anxiety through fake security threats. The shift from rumors about migrants to myths about private military companies indicates increasing information pressure on the republic. The country's authorities are systematically suppressing such propaganda and developing additional protection mechanisms, including blocking the IP addresses of those orchestrating information provocations.