The war in Ukraine started by Russia affects, among other things, the composition of the crews that transport migrants at sea. As such, a number of non-governmental organizations cited by the Guardian claim that traffickers are now recruiting dozens of Russians to replace Ukrainian sailors who piloted migrant boats from Turkey to Italy before the February 2022 invasion.

Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, at least 14 Russian citizens have been arrested by Italian police on charges of illegally transporting asylum seekers.

A report by the Italian NGO Arci Porco Rosso and the non-profit organization Borderline Europe “noted a doubling of the number of arrests of Russian citizens” accused of operating ships compared to the previous year, as well as significantly more arrests of “Syrians, Bengalis and even people from countries without access to the sea, such as Kazakhstan and Tajikistan”.

The Turkey-Italy route was established by a criminal network of Turkish smugglers as an alternative to the long overland route to the EU via the Balkans, partly in response to the pushback of migrants, usually on small speed yachts, often stolen or chartered. About 11,000 migrants arrived on the Italian coast of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily in 2021 from the Turkish ports of Izmir, Bodrum and Canakkale.

Until 2022, the captains of ships transporting migrants were Ukrainians

Initially, the smugglers recruited almost exclusively Ukrainian captains, many of whom fled the country to avoid military service during the war against Russian-backed separatists in Donbas. But after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the number of Ukrainians recruited by Turkish smugglers decreased.

“Ukrainians were important for the arrival of people leaving Turkey, being experienced sailors who know how to handle a boat,” the report said. “With the beginning of the war, Ukrainian men were blocked from leaving the country, which undoubtedly became a determining factor in the decrease in the number of Ukrainian captains.”

Russians have become the best captains of Turks who transport migrants to Italy

Instead, Turkish smuggling gangs began training asylum seekers to drive boats, recruiting Turkish sailors and increasingly hiring Russians and other former Soviet republics.

“In the past, some Russian citizens were recruited by smugglers for this work, but these were mostly isolated cases,” said lawyer Giancarlo Liberati.

“After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and in fact a few months before the war, we saw an increase in Russians being recruited to pilot these sailboats with migrants, and their participation became almost systematic.”

In May 2022, a sailboat carrying about 100 migrants ran aground near the old pier in Siderno, Calabria. As a result of the incident, two people died: both were citizens of Russia, probably driving the vessel.

The last detention took place in November, when three Russians brought about 100 migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq to the coast of Sicily.

Sabrina Gambino, head of the Sicilian prosecutor’s office in Syracuse, said the crossings were behind “a well-organized Turkish criminal network that uses luxury boats, allegedly stolen or rented.”

If found guilty, the pilots of the migrant boats face up to 15 years in prison.

The Russians claim that it was an alternative to not fighting in Ukraine

Charities and lawyers say most of the Russians currently being held in Italian prisons claim they were forced to flee their country to avoid conscription and refused to fight in Ukraine.

“A Russian citizen who was held in prison wrote us a letter saying that he had to flee Russia to avoid the war, but that he and another Russian refugee were arrested as human traffickers upon arrival,” says Richard Braude , activist Arci Porco. Rosso.

The defense presented in court for Russian citizen Ilnar Sadrutdinov, a resident of the Tatarstan region, arrested in early 2022 for driving a boat carrying dozens of asylum seekers from Turkey to Calabria, said he left Russia to avoid being taken to war.

“I am very sorry that Putin and the people who supported him started the takeover of Ukraine,” he said, according to a document seen by The Guardian.

“Please, don’t send me back to Russia, because now they are imprisoning those who refuse to fight. My aunt is married to a Ukrainian, my sister is married to a Ukrainian. Ukraine is a brotherly nation for me.”

He claimed that he did not know about the punishment for illegal human trafficking.

“I was told that if I accepted this job, I would be able to save people and earn money,” said Sadrutdinov. “If I had known that I would go to prison, even just for a year, I would never have accepted this job.”

The Guardian was unable to independently verify his claims.

Crotone’s chief prosecutor, Giuseppe Capoccia, said commanders recruited by Turkish networks “were hired for this specific role” and that in some cases “they had a tourist visa”.

“They are desperate sailors looking for any job to make money,” he added.