Is there any current information (Year 2000/2001) that the Uzbek
government is “encouraging” Russians to leave Uzbekistan, and also
choosing not to protect them from persecution from Islamic
fundamentalists?

Apart from the article by Dr. Gvosdev, “Turkey and Uzbekistan: A
Comparison of Policies vis-a-vis their Greek and Russian Orthodox
Minorities” I have been unable to find any other sources of
information.

Dear Lilly-ga,

I have been reading the article of Dr. Nikolas K. Gvosdev with great
interest. He is signaling a trend of discrimination that seems to be
supported by an ongoing departure of the Russian minority in
Uzbekistan, at least according to the available figures on migration.

From my search at relevant sources I get the clear impression that
whenever massive departure of the Russion minority has been a problem
in the past, it does not occur at this stage in the news. I have been
looking at recent news articles on Uzbekistan: the Russian minority is
not even mentioned.
On a political level the relations between Russia and Uzbekistan are
discussed extensively (and after 9-11 that got an extra dimension) but
there is no attention for the Russian minority. Even Russian news
sources do not mention it as a current issue, while you would expect
them to do so when there would be larger problem.

The famous CIA handbook does not mention the issue.

Also organizations that have offered dr. Gvosdev older material to
support his article, do not mention the issue. I have looked at the
site of both the UNHCR, the UN organization for refugees and the
Helsinki Foundation, a rather critical group following the
developments in the former Sowjet Union rather intensively.

Can we be sure that the Uzbeki government is not encouraging the
Russion minority to leave at this stage? I do not think so. A few
speculations on why we cannot find that much on current events. The
article of dr. Gvosdev offers also a few general indications why we do
not hear too much about the issue.
First: Many of the Russian have left already, if we can believe the
figures on migration now about 5.5 of the Uzbeki citizens are from
Russion origine (writes the CIA handbook), down from 8 percent in
1989. Further: pressure has not been very violent, as also dr. Gvosdev
admits. The rule that Uzbeki government officials should speak fluent
Uzbeki might sound harsh for Russians who have never done so, but I
can see the logic here.
Also, the Russion orthodox minority has no tradition of really
resisting itself against unfair treatment, Gvosdev also mentions.

The sources I have looked through do not mention any pressure on the
Russian minority by islamic fundamentalists. Uzbeki internet resources
give also an url to a russian cultural center, as to many other
organization in the country. The link to this center does not work,
but that it has in common with many links on this site Freenet
Uzbekistan.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Fons

Links: 

the article of dr. Nikolas (downloaded through a google catch because
Chinese censors block geocities in China)
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:9Gsgq7zXei0C:www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/5357/uzb.html+Turkey+and+Uzbekistan+Gvosdev&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

An overview of the English-language news on Uzbekistan
http://www.advancenet.net/~k_a/uzbekistan/news.htm#news1

The CIA-handbook on Uzbekistan:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uz.html

The Helsinki Foundation
http://www.hfhrpol.waw.pl/En/

THe site of the UNHCR
http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home

Uzbeki Internet resources
http://www.freenet.uz/

Search strategy:
Google on:
Uzbekistan
Gvosdev
Helsinki Foundation

While I appreciate that your researchers have attempted to answer the
question, I have only received a very generalised reply, about Russia
and Uzbekistan, and what appears to be a thread about English usage.

Please keep in mind the exchange rate between American and Australian
dollars, and appreciate that I have been charged approximately
AU$100.00 for some non specific generalised information, and informed
that your researches couldn�t find any information.

My own internet searches have turned up more specific information,
which none of your researchers mentioned.

A somewhat different search strategy turned up a number of recent
references to the Russian minority in Uzbekistan.  None of them were
especially detailed, but they do make mention of the issue.

For instance, a Google search on [Uzbekistan "russian minority" 2001]
led to a fair number of sites such as this one at:

http://www.travel-guide.com/data/uzb/uzb580.asp

which includes this statement:

"Abroad, policy towards Russia, Uzbekistan's most important bilateral
relation, has been clouded by the Government's refusal to grant
citizenship to the country's large and relatively skilled ethnic
Russian minority. Uzbekistan also has a rapidly developing
relationship with Turkey which is seeking to boost its influence in
the region by promoting its own secular, capitalist system as a model
for development for the whole region. Following the terrorist attacks
of 11 September 2001 in the USA, Uzbekistan was courted by the USA as
an ally in the war against the al-Qaeda network and the Taleban regime
in Afghanistan: the Uzbek government enjoyed close links with the
ethnic Uzbek militia of General Dostam, which was a key component of
the Northern Alliance which spearheaded the successful ground campaign
against the Taleban."

I have just a note to add to Fons’s excellent answer. This morning’s
Cape Cod Times (my local newspaper) ran a story about Alla Chekhova,
an artist who is here on the Cape on a temporary visa from Uzbekistan.
She is trying to obtain O-1 status, a non-immigrant visa category for
aliens of extraordinary ability. A pertinent quote from the article
reads:

“I never felt it was my home,” said Chekhova. “Because being Russian
in Uzbekistan – something would happen in the marketplace and they
would say, ‘Go back to Russia.’ And in Russia they would say, ‘Go back
to Uzbekistan.’”

She has been here for three years, so it may be that many Russians
have already left.

Beth