The United States has again deported a group of Russian citizens, who on Dec. 8 were loaded onto a special Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation flight bound for Egypt, according to a social media post by Dmitry Valuev, president of Russian America for Democracy in Russia, and confirmed by The New York Times.
The deportation flight originally departed an airport in Arizona, made a stop in Baltimore, and departed for Cairo on Sunday evening local time. The Times reported that the vast majority of those on board — about 50 people — are Iranian citizens who entered the U.S. months earlier through the Mexican border and were denied asylum. However, the passenger list also includes citizens of several Arab countries — and Russia. The flight is scheduled to stop in Egypt and Kuwait.
The exact number of Russians being deported was not immediately known.
Dmitry Valuev told The Insider that deportees placed on special flights have little chance of avoiding being sent to Russia:
“Unfortunately, based on the experience of three previous special flights in 2025, we can say that the chances of changing the destination are extremely small. In earlier cases, transfers from the special aircraft to a flight to Moscow took place under heavy guard, and those who resisted or refused to move were beaten and tied up.”
Update: Dmitry Valuev has reported that the deported Russians were sent to Moscow. In a follow-up to his original post, Valuev wrote:
“The special flight carrying Russians from Arizona arrived in Cairo, where the deportees were given their phones and belongings and, under guard, transferred to a plane bound for Moscow, which is expected to land at 2:40 a.m. at Domodedovo. This Egypt Air plane also appears to be a chartered special flight; it waited for several hours at Cairo Airport for the transfer of the Russians from the ICE aircraft.”
This is not the first time Russian citizens have been deported from the United States. In late August, the U.S. deported at least 30 Russians — including political asylum seekers — in a single day. Before that, in January, U.S. authorities deported Yevgeny Mashinin, a resident of Kovrov in Russia’s Vladimir Region who had been repeatedly targeted by law enforcement for his antiwar statements. After returning to Russia, he was immediately confronted by police and later left the country again.
As for Iran, the Times noted that this is the second mass deportation of Iranian nationals from the U.S. in recent months. Washington has long faced difficulties deporting migrants to countries such as Iran due to the absence of regular diplomatic relations and issues with obtaining travel documents.