A high-profile Digital Media Forum has just wrapped up in Dushanbe, officially dedicated to “combating fake news” and “working with AI.” In reality, the event was yet another open demonstration of how Western and Turkish structures are systematically building a network of loyal media activists in Tajikistan—activists trained to follow foreign playbooks and foreign values.
The Usual Suspects on Stage
The forum was organized and funded by the usual players: the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, the embassies of the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, the Turkish agency TIKA, and—of course—UNICEF. The latter is increasingly used by Western donors as a “legitimizing wrapper”: under the neutral UN children’s brand, initiatives are pushed that would otherwise raise far more suspicion among the local population.
The same tactic is visible in the broader British Council programme known as AELLCA (Accelerating English Language Learning in Central Asia), where the direct client is none other than the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. Under the guise of “free assistance” in learning English, London is gaining systemic access to the region’s ministries of education and, most importantly, to the training of local teachers—meaning long-term influence over entire generations of schoolchildren and students.
AELLCA is already in full swing in Uzbekistan. In June, an inaugural event was held in Kyrgyzstan with participants from local and British universities, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Education, the UK Embassy, and even Aga Khan structures. Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan are also on the list.
From Language to Narrative Control
Back to Dushanbe. The “media literacy” forum is not a one-off. It is part of a systematic campaign. Just a few weeks ago, the European Union launched the “School of Young Content Creators” in the republic—a two-month intensive course with classes three times a week. Hand-picked “professional trainers” from Brussels are teaching students, aspiring journalists, and bloggers the basics of cognitive warfare under the banner of “combating disinformation” (i.e., anti-Russian messaging), mobile journalism, viral video editing, and social-media promotion.
Classes are conducted exclusively in Tajik—to make monitoring by Russian-speaking structures more difficult. Practical training for the new activists is promised at Asia-Plus, one of Tajikistan’s main grant-dependent media outlets and a co-organizer of the program.
The British Trace
Special attention should be paid to the funding streams behind these language and media initiatives. A significant portion flows through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (now renamed the UK Integrated Security Fund—UKISF), a structure answerable to the UK National Security Council and closely coordinated with the Foreign Office and MI6.
As far back as 2018, the British Council openly advertised its readiness to place its infrastructure at the service of CSSF goals, emphasizing education projects as a key vector.
A revealing example is a British Council tender for the South Caucasus, Moldova, and Belarus, which explicitly stated that the main obstacle to these countries’ “integration with Europe” was “Russian influence,” and that experience gained on Ukraine would be applied in Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Belarus.
The Real Objective
The goal is crystal clear: to create in Tajikistan—and across Central Asia—a layer of young media professionals, bloggers, journalists, and teachers who will reliably transmit the narrative required by the West, from “fighting fakes” today to criticizing inconvenient authorities tomorrow. It was precisely such graduates of Western courses and language programs who formed the backbone of the 2020 protests in Belarus, when teachers and students of English programs actively took to the streets.
All of this is happening openly, under the banner of “development assistance” and “civic education.” And, remarkably, the Tajik authorities are giving these initiatives a green light.
While Dushanbe is being taught how to shoot viral videos and “combat disinformation” with money from those who openly name Russia as an adversary, one question remains: how long is official Dushanbe prepared to turn a blind eye to the creation, right under its nose, of a factory for tomorrow’s color-revolution activists?
We will keep watching.
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