The FSB Is Smuggling Illegal Immigrants Into The EU Via Belarus

9.11.2026, 15:50

Journalists uncovered a large-scale network of smugglers and drivers.

From January through the end of July 2026, the Latvian Border Guard prevented 8,814 illegal attempts to enter the country. Despite increased monitoring by European border agencies, human smuggling routes continue to operate. As The Insider has discovered, up to 20 illegal immigrants at a time are infiltrating the European Union through these channels and reaching the German border, with the Russian FSB coordinating their transport. Belarus is also actively involved in the Russian intelligence services’ scheme.

An Iraqi citizen Obaid Mohaymen flew to Moscow in May 2025 at the invitation of the Moscow-based LLC “Rus Gateway.” This company, operating under the names Middle East Group and “MiG” LLC, helps migrants obtain invitations to Russia and manages the “Cassandra” hotel in Balashikha, near Moscow.

Prior to this, Mohaymen had appeared in one of the closed WhatsApp groups where people were seeking individuals from Arab countries to be smuggled illegally into the European Union via Russia.

Participants in the scheme connect through groups and ads on Telegram or in the comments sections of videos advertising illegal routes on TikTok and Facebook. Most of the coordination takes place in private WhatsApp chats.

In videos on TikTok and Telegram, people who have entered the EU illegally state their names and thank a certain individual, referring to him as “Abu Radad,” “Abu Radad” or “Abu Harbi” (“father of war”). It appears they are referring to the same person.

The Insider has discovered that a Yemeni smuggler (a person who illegally transports goods, substances, or people across a national border) is behind this network Abu Radad. According to a report by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), he has specialized, at least since 2021, in organizing the orchestrated influx of Arab and African refugees toward the borders of EU countries and the United Kingdom via channels and chat rooms in messaging apps.

The Insider has confirmed that Abu Radad’s phone number is also linked to channels used to gather migrants.

Dark Logistic: 10,000 euros per trip

Organized groups of undocumented migrants from Africa and the Middle East often enter the European Union via the Baltic states. An entire system operates here. First, people from Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, Chad, Uganda, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Morocco are invited to Russia ostensibly for work or tourism. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues them visas. Then, under the supervision of FSB officers, they are transported through Belarus to the borders with the European Union.

The Insider has identified several drivers who transported migrants from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Belarus and on to its western border. For example, a man named Ali—a native of Tajikistan Buneda Bakhtierova. Another driver going by the pseudonym Max Paron turned out to be a Russian named Vyacheslav Borisov and was listed by Arab undocumented migrants as “Andrei Minsk” or “Max Moscow-Minsk.”

Within the EU, Russian-speaking drivers are recruited through Telegram groups with names such as “Jobs in the EU,” “Jobs in Poland,” “International Transport,” “Drivers in the EU,” “Black Taxi,” “Transportation Europe,” “Dark Logistics,” and “DarkDrive.” Or simply through aggregator groups, where intermediaries post ads on behalf of Abu Baha, Abu Sahar, Raji, Ali, Takata, Kalaka or use other Arabic names.

First, the driver speaks with a contact person; after a brief interview, they are redirected to a “manager” for a more detailed interview and discussion of “assignment” options. Ads are posted every day. If a driver does not have his own vehicle, a rental car is booked. On average, drivers are promised 1,000–10,000 euros per trip; the final amount depends on the number of undocumented migrants transported. Possible routes include the border forest to Riga, to the Polish-German border, to Estonia, or from Estonia by ferry to Finland.

At the end of the trip, the undocumented migrants are recorded on video, and after the driver reports back to the organizers, they transfer the payment to the driver in cryptocurrency. For example, in 2024, Moldovan resident Mikhail Demidenko received money from clients in the “Black Taxi” group for renting a car and transporting migrants. One of the clients for some time was Ramadan Mahruz, a native of Syria who had arrived in Germany as a refugee. He paid drivers to transport undocumented migrants.

Forest, fence, AirBaltic plane

Sources at The Insider say that Russian and Belarusian border guards show no interest in groups of people from Africa and the Middle East who are heading toward the European Union’s borders. As a result, the smugglers are able to lead the groups to the border crossing point without any major problems.

Smugglers forbid those crossing the border from using cell phones, knowing that EU border services can track them via GSM signals. They cross the fences on the border with Latvia in different ways each time: the “guides” cut through the barbed wire, dig a tunnel, or set up ladders to climb over the fence.

In Latvia, the migrants are met by a new guide. The group then either walks through the forest or is driven by a hired driver to Riga, and from there to the border crossing between Poland and Germany.

In the Baltic states and Poland, rental apartments are reserved for undocumented migrants and used as temporary stops. For example, the smuggler Abu Harbi promises participants a place to stay in Warsaw and Lithuania.

The final destination of one of the routes identified by Latvian border guards was Germany. Materials from an internal smugglers’ chat group, obtained by The Insider, show that they entered that country via the road bridge between Zgórzelec, Poland, and Görlitz, Germany. Beforehand, a scout would check the route. If there were police on the bridge, the group had a backup plan involving a pedestrian bridge.

But successful entry isn’t always guaranteed. According to the Polish Border Guard, on June 9, a group of 22 illegal migrants from Somalia, Sudan, Morocco, and Ethiopia was detained at the Lithuanian-Polish border.

Since late 2025, smugglers and guides have adopted new tactics: Finland has become the final destination for illegal migrants. In 2023, Finland closed its border crossings with Russia due to a clearly orchestrated influx of illegal migrants from that side. After that, the Finns had more border guards available and drastically stepped up controls along the entire perimeter. But now, organized groups of illegal migrants are entering the country via the more accessible Baltic states.

As before, the migrants fly into Russia and travel through Belarus to reach Latvia, Lithuania, or Estonia. But instead of traveling westward through Poland, they fly from Riga to Finland on Airbaltic flights. Or they hide in a car at the port of Tallinn, and the drivers smuggle them onto the ferry to Helsinki. For example, on September 6, 2026, citizens of Eritrea and Morocco were detained at the port in the Finnish capital. And on the night of September 25, the Finnish Border Guard detained another car with two undocumented migrants as it was exiting the ferry.

A Smuggler with a Certificate from the FSB

On the Russian side, waves of illegal migration are coordinated by representatives of the FSB. The Insider discovered and identified Maxim Kazydub, an FSB border guard officer in the Republic of Karelia and a native of Magdeburg. On social media, he appears under the names “Dmitry Titov,” “Max Koza,” “Sanëk Orlov,” and “Max Karelsky.”

Kazydub was a member of closed communication channels and discussion groups focused on schemes for smuggling illegal migrants into the European Union. One of the Telegram chats in which he participated starting in late 2023 was dedicated to organizing an influx of migrants to the Finnish border.

It listed specific border crossings that could be used to enter the country and file asylum claims there. Under the pseudonym Dmitry Titov, Kazydub monitored the activity of members of the Telegram group “Ark Finland,” where anti-war Russians and legal asylum seekers from Russia discuss pressing issues—such as how to arrange for relatives to come.

After Russia’s border with Finland was completely closed, the same FSB officer found himself in closed WhatsApp groups linked to Abu Radad and Abu Harbi, which can only be joined via an invitation link. In these groups, one can find out about the availability of assistants in the border zone on the Russian and Belarusian sides.

In 2024, Kazydub received a certificate of honor from the government of the Republic of Karelia for his contributions to border security. That very same border was used in late 2023 to orchestrate a surge of migrants through Russian checkpoints toward Finland. In fact, this is precisely why Finland had to close its border.

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