Authorities in St. Petersburg have been deporting migrants en masse in the week since the deadly attack on a Moscow region concert hall. Amidst this, a claim has gone viral that Mass deportations of Muslims are going on in Russia after the terror attack. Along with the claim, a video showing people gathered together is also shared.
A user named Sick of It (@WayneGb88) has shared the video with the caption, “Mass deportation of Muslims going on in Russia after the terror attack. They will all be on their way here no doubt.”
Following this, other users have also shared a similar video with a matching claim.
Fact Check
We investigated the viral video by putting it into keyframes. During the investigation, we found a media report from Russia. It reported that not long ago, a video circulated on the World Wide Web in which a huge number of migrants broke into the Sakharovo multifunctional migration center. Then it turned out that the video was filmed several days before the tragic events in Crocus.
The article also had a screengrab from the viral video mentioning it having no relation to the recent Moscow attack deportation.
Furthermore, the video was also found on a YouTube channel with the description, “A fake story has spread across social networks that many foreign citizens are trying to fly out of Russia at Domodedovo Airport. In fact, the video was filmed in the Sakharovo migration center, where a work permit is issued” (Translated from Russian to English)
Additionally, Russia has accelerated its deportation process after the attack but no media reports have specifically mentioned the “mass deportation of Muslims by Russia”.
Conclusion
Thus, it is clear from the fact check that the video doesn’t show the mass deportation of Muslims from Russia. This video was filmed in the Sakharovo migration-center, where work permits, residence permits, and Russian language exams are issued.