Foreign nationals serving terms in Russian prisons have been asked to write requests to serve the remainder of their terms in their homeland following two recent hostage-taking crises at Russian penitentiaries, IStories said on September 10.
The news website cited rights defender Ivan Astashin and a source close to correctional colony No. 17 in Russia's Mordovia region as saying foreign nationals have been advised to officially request a transfer to their home country as prison administrators seek to avoid dramatic hostage-taking events similar to those in Rostov-on-Don and correctional colony No. 19 in the Volgograd region.
According to the sources one Belarusian, three Kyrgyz, one Polish, and two U.S. citizens who are serving terms on different charges at the penal colony in Mordovia are currently awaiting transfers to their homelands.
Also, a Ukrainian citizen serving a term at correctional colony No. 8 in the Russian region of Voronezh told Astashin he had been approached by a penitentiary official who recommended he request a transfer to Ukraine. The man has been in jail in Russia since before Russia launched its ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Lawyer Yevgeny Smirnov told IStories that the transfers would most likely be made as deportations and not as extraditions as those would require special requests from other countries.
In late August, several inmates from Central Asia at correctional colony No.19 in the southwestern region of Volgograd took guards hostage, killing four of them. Officials said at the time that all the hostage-takers were liquidated.
The violence took place after six inmates at a detention center in the city of Rostov-on-Don took two guards hostage in June. Several hours later, Russian officials said the hostages were released and the hostage-takers killed.
In both cases, the hostage-takers claimed they were members of the Islamic State extremist group.