Four Russian bikers jailed for five days after entering Iraq without valid visas were stranded at the Russian Embassy in Baghdad over the weekend as they waited for paperwork allowing them to leave the country.
The bikers obtained fake visas from an organization posing as a travel agency, Russian officials said.
"Considering how difficult it is to obtain a legitimate visa to Iraq, they issued them fake visas," Irina Tyurina, spokeswoman for the Russian Tourism Union, said Saturday, Interfax reported.
The Foreign Ministry said little could be done to secure exit visas for the bikers because all Iraqi government offices were closed on Friday and Saturday, the Iraqi weekend.
The Russian Embassy planned to contact the Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Sunday and, if the visas could be obtained in one day, the bikers would return to Russia on Monday, Interfax reported.
The bikers — Oleg Kapkayev, Alexander Vardanyants, Oleg Maximov and Maxim Ignatyev — entered Iraq from the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region, which they did not need visas to enter, RIA-Novosti reported.
After entering Iraq, the bikers were detained in the city of Kirkuk as they headed toward Baghdad. They were released after the Russian Embassy stepped in.
Outside Baghdad, the bikers were arrested again, by men wearing military uniforms, who took them to an Iraqi military base. Alexander Orlov, a member of the Moscow-based motorcycle club RAMCC, said the bikers were severely beaten while in Iraqi custody. NTV television said the men were accused by the Iraqis of being spies.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Friday that Iraqi authorities had arrested the bikers strictly to ensure their own safety.
The security situation in Iraq is unstable following a military invasion and occupation by the United States that officially ended in December.
The Foreign Ministry negotiated the bikers' release on Thursday.
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