Hassan Abdo Ahmed Mohammed, his wife, and four children escaped the Syrian civil war to settle in Russia. The Kurdish family landed in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport but the Russian government says the family’s visas are fake. If they return to Syria, they may be killed. So they have been living in the airport for 50 days while lawyers try to sort out their status. UNICEF brings them food and, a week ago, the United Nations and an NGO convinced Russian authorities to permit them to spend their nights in a terminal hotel room. From CNN:
Mohammed thinks Russia’s close ties with the embattled Syrian government are interfering with his plans to enter Russia.
“Russia has a very strong relation with the Syrian regime, and they don’t want to encourage Syrians to leave the country,” he said.
Mohammed’s lawyer said the Syrian government checked out their passports and said they were authentic. Russian authorities are now investigating the the passports, the lawyer said, and should come to a decision soon.
“Kurdish family fleeing Syria stuck in Moscow airport for over 50 days”