On March 29, 2018, the senators of the Parliament of Uzbekistan approved the Law “On the State Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan”

The chairman of the State Security Service of Uzbekistan, Ikhtiyor Abdullayev, made a speech at a meeting in the Senate of the Parliament of Uzbekistan. Abdullayev said the activities of various separatist forces, some of which are financed by foreign special services, posed a threat to the security of the republic. He stated that “the core of the aims of certain forces that consider themselves to be opposition, is to be legalized upon arrival in the country in order to violate its stability.”

According to Abdullayev, citizens of Uzbekistan who go abroad to work often “fall under the influence of various extremist groups.” He also mentioned the flow of money into the country: “It cannot be said that all investments coming from foreign countries are beneficial to us. None of this should escape our attention,” Abdullayev said.

The State Security Service has become the legal successor of the National Security Service (SNB), which for two decades has carried out political repressions against journalists and critics of the regime.