Amid surging anti-migrant sentiment in the US and growing ties between Moscow and Washington, 64 Russians were deported from Arizona. On arrival in Moscow, the men soon received military draft notices.

Deported from the United States and then immediately dispatched to the front lines by Russia. Such was the fate of several Russian nationals who, after being detained and put on a plane in Arizona on Monday, December 8, eventually landed in Moscow on Tuesday, December 9, after a stopover in Cairo.

According to the independent Russian media outlet Mediazona, 64 Russian passengers were on board. The authorities have provided no information about their current status. However, several of them received military draft notices as soon as they arrived, the first step toward likely deployment to the front in Ukraine. The information was confirmed by the group Russian America for Democracy in Russia (RADR), an advocacy group established in the US by opponents to the Kremlin.

The only official statement from Moscow came after the plane landed: The Office of the Prosecutor General announced the arrest of Zair Saimullin, age 69, who was charged with fraud and whose extradition from the US had been requested by Russia. According to RADR, he was likely on board the flight from Cairo.