The United States deported Russian citizens from the country for the fourth time this year: previously only three such flights were reported

Deportees may face criminal prosecution for political reasons

For the fourth time, the United States is deporting Russians en masse who were denied asylum or who violated the rules of legal stay in the country, Vorstka has found out. Previously, information appeared in the media about only three such flights.

On Sunday, December 7, a deportation flight with Russians on board took off from the United States, the New York Times and the Agency reported . The information was also confirmed to Vorstka by the president of the human rights organization Russian America for Democracy in Russia, Dmitry Valuev.

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This is already the fourth deportation flight with Russian citizens

The first charter took off in June and, according to media reports, from 30 to 47 Russians were brought to Moscow at that time. The second charter flight took off on August 27 - then, according to media reports, from 50 to 65 people flew to the Russian Federation.

As Vorstka found out, on September 29, another charter flight took off from the United States: it took the Russians to Cairo. From there, several dozen Russian citizens took off on an Egyptian Airlines tourist flight to Domodedovo: the plane arrived in Moscow on October 1.

“In total there were more than 100 detainees. In addition to the Russians, there were Egyptians and Iranians,” a source from Vestka reports about the third deportation flight. It is unknown exactly how many Russian citizens returned to the country at that time. There is no confirmed information about the detention of any of the arrivals on the third special flight from the United States.

The last charter flight took off on December 7 at 12:05 local time (18:05 Moscow time) from Arizona, made a stop in Washington state and from there departed at 21:08 (03:08 Moscow time) to Egypt. According to the NYT, there are about 50 Iranian citizens, immigrants from Arab countries and Russian citizens on the plane.

According to flight tracking service FlightAware, a special flight organized to deport citizens of various countries who have been denied asylum in the United States or have overstayed their immigration status is scheduled to land in Cairo at 14:26 local time (15:26 Moscow time).

After this, as Vorstka found out, the Russians should be put on a regular tourist flight from Cairo to Moscow. Most likely they will fly on an Egyptian Airlines flight, which will depart on December 9 to Domodedovo Airport (scheduled arrival at 14:45 Moscow time). It is unknown exactly how many Russians are on this deportation flight.

Some Russians are being returned to their homeland against their will

Some Russians who are deported from the United States themselves agree to return to Russia after a long wait for refugee status in deportation prisons. In some cases, people have to live in such prisons for more than a year - without the opportunity to freely leave the institution and see their relatives, and they themselves are waiting to return to their homeland.

However, there are also those who are deported against their will: they may face criminal prosecution in Russia for political or other reasons.

In July, it became known about the detention of Perm activist Leonid Melekhin, who was deported from the United States: in the United States he was denied political asylum, and after returning to Russia, he was arrested under “terrorist” charges. Melyokhin returned to his homeland not by deportation, but by private flight. According to media reports, he voluntarily applied to the immigration court with a request for deportation from the United States.

According to Gulagu.net, former Russian soldier Artyom Vovchenko was also detained after the deportation. A criminal case was initiated against him for leaving his unit without permission under Article 337 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. It is unknown what happened to him now.

Photo: Iloy Migration Prison in Arizona. ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect

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