Crossroads Asia | Society | Central Asia

A Textbook Debate: Why Russian Historians Told Kyrgyz Historians to Ditch the Term ‘Colonialism’

If legitimacy is tied to history, then exactly how that history is interpreted matters beyond conference rooms packed with historians. 

Ala-Too Square, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, summer 2025.

In mid-May an old debate with deep roots surfaced during a meeting of the Russian-Kyrgyz Expert-Advisory Council on History. The Russian scholars present, after having examined Kyrgyz history textbooks for 8th, 9th, and 10th-grade students, complained about the portrayal of the Soviet Union and the use of the term “colonialism” in reference to both the Russian Empire and the USSR that followed it.

“Using the term ‘colonialism’ is a fashion statement,” Andrei Bykov, a researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences said, as reported by Azattyk. “The younger generation perceives this term emotionally, as it has a negative connotation. If we replace ‘colonialism’ or ‘colonial policy’ with ‘administration’ and ‘administrative measures,’ then the negative connotation will no longer be present.”

It’s not only “the younger generation” that perceives the term “colonialism” emotionally. Since the Russian Empire’s first forays into Central Asia in the 19th century and all the way through the Soviet Union’s rule of the region, Moscow has wrestled with discomfort over the term “colonialism.”

“There is a very long tradition of Russians thinking that their empire was completely different from that of the British,” Adeeb Khalid, a professor of Asian Studies and History at Carleton College, told The Diplomat. “The Soviet self-understanding was that they are revolutionary, they’re not imperialists, and they are actually helping the people of Central Asia overcome the legacy of colonialism.”

But in his view, “the Russian Empire and the British Empire were very similar. The Soviet Union was a little bit, was something else.” 

It’s a debate that historians continue to have. The past may be static, but history – our collective understanding of the past – is constantly evolving. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there has been an upsurge of scholarly and public discourse and debate on colonialism in Central Asia during the Soviet period, and decolonization in the modern era. 

Botakoz Kassymbekova, a professor of Eastern European History at the University of Zurich and a leading voice on decolonization in Central Asia, told The Diplomat that “the Soviet ideology presented colonialism as a capitalist enterprise. Russian colonialism was driven by the state, not business, but it was, and is still, colonialism.”

“There are elements of economic exploitation in Central Asia that look a lot like colonial exploitation,” Khalid said, echoing points raised by the Kyrgyz historians in Moscow, pushing back against their Russian colleagues requests. There are other elements of Soviet rule in Central Asia – such as a lack of independence and resettlement policies – that resemble most classic definitions of colonialism. 

“But the Soviet state also mobilized its people in ways that colonial empires never did,” Khalid added. “You can really get into the weeds on that big academic debate.”

“Comparison is not only warranted but necessary,” Kassymbekova told The Diplomat. “The Russian state and academia denies its colonial past because the Soviet regime presented itself as anti-colonial and this is something that the current regime inherited from the Soviet........

© The Diplomat