‘All we have to eat is bread’ With detention centers overcrowded, Russia is holding Central Asian migrants in prisons — and treating them like convicts
In addition to worsening the labor shortage and contributing to a rise in street violence, the Russian authorities’ crackdown on migrants over the past year has led to another highly predictable consequence: overcrowding in migrant detention centers. As a result, migrants awaiting deportation in some regions are being held in prisons, where they face grim conditions and are denied hot meals, according to a recent report by Radio Azattyq, RFE/RL’s Kazakhstan affiliate. Meduza shares an English-language translation of the article.
Dozens of migrants from Central Asia awaiting deportation are being held in Russian prisons without access to proper food. According to Radio Azattyq, the migrants were placed in prisons due to overcrowding in migrant detention centers.
The lack of space is a result of the widespread raids on undocumented immigrants that Russian police conducted last year after the deadly terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall near Moscow. Several suspects arrested in connection with the attack were from Tajikistan.
The overcrowding, especially in central Russia’s Sverdlovsk region, has led to many migrants being housed in prisons while they wait for deportation orders. Radio Azattyq reports that there is a food shortage in these facilities, with many Central Asian migrants saying they have no access to “decent food.”
“We haven’t had a hot meal since the morning of December 26, 2024, when we were brought to this prison in the Pervouralsk district of the Sverdlovsk region,” one migrant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Azattyq by phone on January 10. “Everything is forbidden, even instant noodles. […] All we have to eat is bread!”
The exact number of Central Asian nationals currently in detention in the Sverdlovsk region is unknown. However, two migrants who spoke with Azattyq on behalf of several others said that hundreds of foreigners were detained during large-scale police raids in the region in late December 2024.
Migration and discrimination in Putin’s Russia
Most of the detainees are migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. They told Radio Azattyq they were detained on suspicion of violating immigration rules.
One of the migrants who spoke to the outlet said his residence permit expired on December 26, 2024, the same day he was arrested. The man, who asked not to be named, admitted that he had failed to renew his documents on time. However, several other detainees claimed they were arrested without cause.
‘We’re not criminals!’
Several of the migrants shared videos taken inside their prison cell. The footage shows a cramped room with dirty walls and a high window with metal bars. The room contains bunk beds, a small table, benches, and a corner with a sink and toilet separated by a partition.
“There are guys whose wives are also here [in Russia]. They brought samsa, plov, and other food to the prison, but the staff refused to pass it inside,” one migrant said. “The staff say this is a prison, not a migrant detention center. We say, ‘Fine, but we’re not criminals!’”
A representative of the Tajikistan consulate in Yekaterinburg, the Sverdlovsk region’s capital, confirmed that many migrants are being held in prisons due to overcrowding in detention centers.
“This is a temporary measure,” said Takubdjon Umarov, deputy head of the consulate’s public council, which works with the Tajik diaspora to assist migrants in the region. “As soon as space becomes available in the temporary detention centers for foreigners, they will be transferred there.”
Four months after the attack at Crocus City Hall, Moscow reported a significant increase in deportations and entry bans as part of an apparent anti-migrant campaign that primarily targeted citizens of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. From January to July 2024, over 143,000 people were denied entry to Russia, and nearly 93,000 were deported — significant increases from the previous year.