First Group of Immigrants Deported After Moscow Race Riot

November 1, 2013
Photo: ITAR-TASS | EPA/ MAXIM SHIPENKOV

Following the race riots in the southern Moscow district of Biryulyovo, where ethnic-Russian Neo-Nazis attacked a warehouse full of immigrants, Moscow police were forced to act to appease the furious Russian nationalists. And act they did. Police raided warehouses, arrested migrants, and filmed the beating and humiliation of one migrant who stands accused of committing the murder that sparked the riots.

One question that is important, and largely ignored, is how the migrants that have been rounded up in Russia have been treated, and whether they’ve been given due process. If Russia’s past behavior is an indication, immigrants are often not given due process and are housed in horrible conditions, often in internment camps, while awaiting deportation. Now, the first group of migrants rounded up in police raids has been deported.

Also note the claim that the immigration status of one million people has been checked. This number seems extremely high, and merits further investigation. The number seems even more out of place with the fact that only seven immigrants have been deported. Is this an inflated number to make it look like the Russian government is working harder than it is? – Ed.


[Thursday] Moscow bailiffs ensured the deportation to the first group of illegal immigrants identified during large scale inspections that started after the events in the south of Moscow, in Biryulyovo.

According to the information, provided to ITAR-TASS by the press service of the Moscow department of the Federal Bailiff Service, today the first seven illegal immigrants identified during extensive inspections after the events in Biryulyovo were sent to Kyrgyzstan on a flight from Domodedovo airport.

They were deported by court decision, and bailiffs purchased tickets to Bishkek for them.

In total, as the result of large-scale operation in the south of Moscow, the Moscow police and the Federal Migration Service officials checked the legal status of more than 1 million foreign nationals, including those working at a vegetable warehouse and processing facility in Biryuluovo, where they discovered massive violations of the Russian immigration law.