Dozens of migrants from Tajikistan say they have been held by Russian authorities at Moscow's Zhukovsky Airport for over a week.
In footage shared with RFE/RL, dozens of men are seen locked inside a room cramped with prison-style iron bunk beds. There are no windows or air conditioners, and some men lie on the beds or on the concrete floor while others have just enough space to sit. A trash can overflows with empty packets of cheap instant noodles.
"I have been here for 10 days. They give us instant soup once a day, nothing else," one of the men told RFE/RL, adding that there are about 75 people in the room.
"There is a man among us who suffers from a heart condition," the man says.
"We told [Russian authorities] that we want to buy return tickets and go back to Tajikistan, but they are holding us here and not allowing us in or to return home," another man says.
Central Asian migrants wait at a Moscow airport.
The Tajik nationals were brought to the airport after Russian courts ordered their deportation. Russian authorities have not commented on why the migrants were being held at the airport.
Similar claims have been made by many other migrants from Central Asia, who say they face a new wave of entry denials and deportations by Russian authorities.
SEE ALSO: Inside Russia's Shadow Battalions: Coercion, Violence, And Ethnic TargetingRussia's Interior Ministry reported a 17 percent increase in the number of deportations of foreigners accused of breaching immigration rules in the first half of this year in comparison to the same period of 2024.
The ministry also reported a more than 30 percent drop in the number of residency permits issued for foreign nationals this year.
The ministry did not say which countries' citizens were affected. However, Central Asian nationals -- in particular Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Kyrgyz -- have experienced intensified police raids, deportations, and mistreatment in Russia in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall in March 2024.
A video that has gone viral on social media shows Kyrgyz migrants being forced to crawl on the floor and lie on top of each other during a police raid in Moscow.
A group of migrants, most of them citizens of Tajikistan, have been blamed for carrying out the attack on the packed concert venue outside Moscow, which killed nearly 150 people.
The massacre sparked an anti-migrant drive that saw tens of thousands of Central Asians deported or denied entry to Russia, while many others reported what they described as xenophobic attacks.
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5
Tajik Migrants Stranded At Moscow Airport Amid Deportations, Border Crackdown
A woman from the southern Kyrgyz region of Osh told RFE/RL that she was insulted and threatened by police officers who held her in a crowded room for more than 24 hours at Zhukovsky Airport on August 1.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the woman said she and several other passengers were taken for questioning upon their arrival at the airport on a flight from Osh.
The woman, who wears Islamic clothing, said police asked why she wore a hijab and accused her of watching extremist content on her phone.
"They locked us inside a stuffy room with no windows. There were several iron beds inside. They only gave us expired instant soup," the woman said. "One of the women felt ill, and we knocked on the door. When an officer opened it, we asked him to call an ambulance. He instead called another officer, who came carrying a stun gun."
The woman said the officer didn't use the stun gun directly, but that he activated it next to her. She said the officer used the device's bright light and noise to "frighten and threaten" the migrants.
SEE ALSO: Migrants Beaten In Moscow Cafe As Crackdown On Central Asians IntensifiesThe woman said the police deported her the following day without any explanation.
Authorities in Central Asian countries have issued several statements over the past year expressing concern over the detention of their citizens in Russian airports but have taken no action beyond that.
Russia hosts millions of migrant workers from Central Asia, a former Soviet region, where many households depend on remittances.