OUT OF SIGHT, NOT OUT OF REACH The Global Scale and Scope of Transnational Repression Eurasia Takjik opposition activist Sharofiddin Gadoev stands in front of a photo of his cousin, fellow activist Umarali Kuvvatov, as he speaks at the Oslo Freedom Forum 2019 in Oslo, Norway. Image credit: Julia Reinhart/Getty Images. Many governments in Eurasia practice transnational repression. In addition to Russia, which is examined in its own case study; the governments of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have all used physical transnational repression against exiles since 2014.317 Regional organizations facilitate direct international cooperation against exiles among member states. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which counts as its members China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan, and more recently India and Pakistan, promotes cooperation against not only terrorism—which can be invoked in targeted prosecutions of exiles—but also “extremism” and “separatism.” The SCO helps states maintain a shared “blacklist,” and facilitates information sharing about threats in the region.318 The Minsk Convention also facilitates information sharing, and states in the region have cited it to justify handing over exiles. Additionally, governments of the region are prolific abusers of Interpol to target critics—not only those in Russia, but in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. 48 @FreedomHouse With the exception of Kyrgyzstan, all of the states in the region that use physical transnational repression also use coercion by proxy and digital threats. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Russia have used spyware abroad against exiles; Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan use digital surveillance domestically, but it is unclear if they have deployed it abroad. Tajikistani exiles faced the largest wave of transnational repression in Eurasia during the period under study, as the government consolidated power at home and targeted the opposition that fled abroad. Thirty-eight of 129 coded incidents from the region originated from Tajikistan, showing extensive detentions as well as unlawful deportations, renditions, an assault, an unexplained disappearance, and one assassination. Maksud Ibragimov’s case is emblematic. Born in Tajikistan, he later renounced his Tajikistani citizenship and became a citizen of Russia, where he founded the Tajik Youth for the Revival of Tajikistan.319 He was first detained there in October 2014; he was released the following month but stripped of his Russian citizenship, and soon afterward was the victim of a severe stabbing attack on a Moscow street. #TransnationalRepression