“You have recently seen on the Internet statements targeting Uzbekistan’s sovereignty. There were claims about doing this or that to our country. In response to these statements, I say this, “Uzbekistan will never be a colony to anyone,” Narbayeva said.

Earlier Zakhar Prilepin, a Russian writer, political and military figure and the co-chairman of the ‘Spravedlivaya Rossiya - za pravdu’ party proposed joining the territory of Uzbekistan to the Russian Federation.

“The more Russians there are, the fewer problems we will have with migrants misbehaving in our country. Therefore, I support the idea of joining the territories of those countries, for example, Uzbekistan to the Russian Federation, and teaching them Russian there before they come here,” he said.

On December 21, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Uzbekistan Oleg Malginov was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to comment on Prilepin’s statement.

At the meeting, Malginov noted that Prilepin’s statements had nothing to do with the official position of the leadership of Russia.

Later, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Maria Zakharova, also commented on the issue and said that “Zakhar Prilepin’s statement is his personal opinion and does not even come close to the official position of the Russian Federation.”