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Russians detained in Alaska being held at Washington state detention center — newspaper

The center stressed that it was providing humane conditions to the detainees

NEW YORK, December 1. /TASS/. Two Russians who sailed to St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea in early October are in a detention center in Tacoma, Washington, the Politico newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Immediately after the Russians’ detention, US law enforcement officials sent Sergey and Maxim, whose last names are still unknown, to Anchorage. According to the newspaper, they were then transported to the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center run by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The center told the newspaper that it was providing humane conditions to the detainees.

St. Lawrence Island is located between Chukotka and Alaska and is part of the United States. The Associated Press earlier reported, citing Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, that the Chukchi residents had sought asylum in the United States. According to Nicolas McKee, a lawyer with the American Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, they left Russia and arrived in the US on a fishing boat as the Ukrainian conflict began.