Reign of Fear: Secret Raids Sweep Russia After Terror Attack

Credit: Kombarov

The Kremlin has been accused of ordering sweeping raids, unlawful deportations, and baseless arrests targeting migrants on the heels of the deadly terrorist attack in Moscow last month, in what appears to be a frenzied effort to deter future attacks.

Russian authorities have relentlessly beat, attacked, and intimidated scores of migrants after blaming the concert hall massacre on four men from Tajikistan, Valentina Chupik, a human rights activist who has been working with migrants targeted in the crackdown, told The Daily Beast. The police are demanding bribes in order to let migrants go in some cases, Chupik said.

In one case, a woman from Tajikistan was detained in Zhukovsky airport and brought to the basement for intimidation purposes, Chupik said. There, the police suggested she pay them off with 30,000 rubles or risk being detained, according to Chupik, who added that they had no legal reasons to detain the woman. The woman’s son-in-law allegedly paid off the cops with 10,000 rubles, and his mother-in-law was allowed to leave the country without getting detained.