Twenty-three Kurdish men from Iraq are awaiting trial in Russia following their detention at European Union borders, with one illegal migrant reportedly dying in custody, Al Jeebal reported on February 12.

Crossings along the EU's borders with Belarus and Russia surged by 192%, reaching 17,000 in 2024, according to data from EU border agency Frontex. Russia and Belarus have long used their borders as a nuisance factor for countries such as Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Poland, allowing illegal migrants through. Many Iraqi Kurds, owing to their ethnicity, claim they are Syrian upon entry to the EU as rates of acceptance for Syrian refugees before the collapse of the al-Assad regime were significantly higher than those from Iraq, as data previously showed.

The group initially travelled to Basra in southern Iraq last October, obtaining Russian visas through the Federation’s consulate while simultaneously arranging with smugglers to facilitate their onward journey to Europe through WhatsApp, according to sources from the country.

"After arriving in Russia, the youths were deceived by smugglers who claimed they could easily cross into EU countries when the opposite is true due to Russia's current war footing," said Daner Abubaker from the Kurdistan Regional Government's representation in Russia.

The illegal migrants previously attempted to enter Latvia through Belarus but were intercepted by Latvian border guards. During detention, one member of the group, Mohammed Farhan from Qardag, died allegedly due to being beaten by Belarussian security. His body has not yet been returned to Kurdistan.

"Our sons took this route aiming to reach Europe. The smugglers told them the path was safe, but they encountered these problems along the way," said one detainee's father, confirming that Farhan died "under torture by Latvian commando forces."

The Kurdish-Iraqi representatives in Russia say they are working to secure the safe return of the remaining detainees to their families; however, they did not say if Russia would fine the Iraqi authorities for not dealing with the illegal migrants.

Russia has not commented on the arrests or the death of the Iraqi nationals or their detention, reviewing local media channels and newspapers. Bne IntelliNews contacted the Russian embassy in Baghdad for further comment, but they have not returned our calls.

The EU, along with the UK, has stepped up efforts to return Iraqi Kurds, seen as the ringleaders of smuggling gangs in Europe. Germany was first to sign a deal with the Baghdad government to return Kurdish refugees last year in October.

The deportations come as EU and UK take an increasingly restrictive stance toward Kurdish asylum seekers from Iraq, citing peaceful conditions in their home region, unlike their counterparts from Iran and Syria.

Before the arrests, earlier on February 6, Iraqi Kurdistan's Prime Minister Masrur Barzani met with Russian Presidential Special Representative Mikhail Bogdanov to discuss strengthening bilateral relations and ongoing negotiations with Baghdad, Shafaq News reported.

During the meeting, discussions focused on federal budget allocations, oil export arrangements, and regional security concerns, particularly regarding Kurdish rights in Syria, but not about the arrests of the men.

In 2023, the EU data agency Eurostat reported that in 2023, 1.0mn people applied for “international protection” in EU countries for the first time, an increase of 20% compared with 2022. The same year, 123,000 people were refused entry to the EU on one of its external borders.

“In 2023, Poland reported the largest number of refusals (15,000 or 12% of the EU total), ahead of Hungary (13,000 or 10%) and Croatia (11,000 or 9%),” the organisation reported.