Migrant detention centers in Russia are running out of space after a crackdown on undocumented migrants following the deadly Crocus City Hall attack in March last year, which was blamed on Central Asian nationals.
The overcrowding, in particularly in the Sverdlovsk region in central Russia, had meant migrants awaiting deportation orders are now being housed in other holding facilities, such as local jails.
It is also leading to food shortages, with Central Asian migrants saying they have no access to "proper food."
"We have not eaten a hot meal since the morning of December 26, [2024], when we were brought to this jail in the Pervouralsk district [of Sverdlovsk Province], because migrant [detention] centers were full," one migrant told RFE/RL by phone on January 10.
"[The authorities] have even banned packets of instant noodle soup, so our food consists only of bread and tea with sugar," the migrant said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The exact number of Central Asian workers currently incarcerated in the Sverdlovsk region is not known, but the two migrants who spoke to RFE/RL on behalf of several others say hundreds of foreigners were detained in large-scale police raids in late December 2024.
The terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall entertainment center near Moscow in March 2024 claimed 140 lives. Several Tajik citizens were arrested for alleged involvement in the attack.
The majority of those incarcerated in Sverdlovsk are workers from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan who say they were rounded up on suspicion of violating immigration rules.
By law, foreigners detained in Russia for violating immigration rules must be held in special migrant detention facilities as they wait for court rulings on their cases or their deportation dates.
One of the two migrants that RFE/RL spoke to said that his residency permit expired on December 26, 2024, the day he was detained by police. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the migrant acknowledged he had failed to extend the document on time.
Several other in the group, however, said they had been detained by police for no valid reason.
Jail Cell
The migrants who were in contact with RFE/RL shared video footage of what they described as the jail cell where they are being held. The footage shows a small room with dirty walls and a high window covered with a metal mesh. The furniture is sparse, with bunk beds and a small table and benches. There is a sink in the corner, next to a toilet separated with a partition.
"Relatives of some of the migrants here brought food to prison, but the guards didn't give it to us," one Central Asian migrant told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity. "The guards tell us that 'it is a prison, not a migrant facility.' We do understand that this is a jail, but we're not prisoners and shouldn't be treated like it."
A representative of the Tajik consulate in Yekaterinburg, the capital of the Sverdlovsk region, confirmed claims that many migrants are being held in jails due to a lack of space in the detention centers.
"It is a temporary measure. They will be transferred to the migrant facilities when space becomes available there," said Yoqubjon Umarov, the deputy head of the Public Council, a body jointly organized by the consulate and the Tajik diaspora to help migrant workers in Sverdlovsk.
Russia hosts millions of migrant workers from Central Asia, where unemployment and poverty have been rampant since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.
Just four months after the attack on the Crocus City Hall, Moscow reported a record high number of deportations and entry refusals in an apparent anti-migrant drive that mostly targeted Tajik, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz citizens.
From January to July 2024, more than 143,000 people were denied entry to Russia, while nearly 93,000 people were deported from the country, marking a significant rise from the previous year, according to official figures released by Moscow.
