Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Rinas: "This is for transit for one hour but ours is 40 days" 
 
 For almost seven weeks a Syrian family has been camping-out in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. The Ahmads brought their four children to Russia seeking safety. But they were accused of using fake passports and refused asylum. Now the family are stuck in the transit zone. 
 
 It's not hard to spot them through the glass walls of the old smoking room next to departure gate 36. They sit surrounded by the few bags of belongings they brought with them. 
 
 "This is for transit for one hour, for two hours," the eldest son, Rinas tells me in English. "But ours is for 40 days. And what it will be, we don't know." 
 
 Perched on the one inflatable mattress that hasn't burst, his father tells their story. 
 
 'Heartless' 
 
 Hasan is a musician, from a Kurdish region of Syria. But the Ahmads were living in Northern Iraq until militants from the so-called Islamic State (IS) came too close for comfort. So they decided to leave for Russia. His daughter is just 3; the boys are 7, 8 and 12. 
 
 "We didn't expect to end up living in the airport, but we've been forced to," Hasan says, explaining that they had intended to stay with his sister-in-law, here in Russia. 
 
 Image caption The Ahmads brought their four children to Russia seeking safety, but they were refused asylum 
 
 "I don't know how people can be so heartless. I don't understand. People are fleeing from war, from violence," he says. 
 
 The family spent the first two weeks in Russia in detention, accused of attempting an illegal border crossing. Hasan insists that their passports are genuine. 
 
 But the stress has taken its toll. A week ago, his wife collapsed and was rushed to hospital. 
 
 "We left our homes, everything. We just wanted to live in peace like other people. But they refused us asylum. They said this is not Europe," Gulistan says, her voice still weak and her face clearly distraught. 
 
 Image caption The stress has taken its toll on Hasan's wife, Gulistan 
 
 There are two police officers posted at the door of her ward. 
 
 "I just feel so sorry for my children. They want to know what we've done so wrong for this to happen," she says, close to tears. And Gulistan has another worry now - the family has no idea who will pay her hospital bill. 
 
 'Smear on Russia' 
 
 Russia has been carrying out airstrikes against IS targets in Syria for almost a month. Every day politicians on state television preach of the menace of IS. 
 
 And yet just three Syrians have refugee status in Russia. Fewer than 1,600 have been granted temporary asylum, valid for a year. Human rights activists say many more have been refused. 
 
 Image caption Hasan's frustration is growing about the way his family is being treated 
 
 "If we have intervened in this war, then we know about the threat and we cannot then deny people asylum," argues Svetlana Gannushkina who runs a refugee aid centre Civic Assistance in Moscow. 
 
 Russia, she explains from long experience, has a general policy of refusing refugees. But even if the Ahmads' passports were fake, she argues that they cannot be charged with illegal border crossing if they were fleeing danger. 
 
 "The way the family has been treated is very strange and inhumane," Svetlana Gannushkina says. "It's shameful for our country. A smear on Russia." 
 
 Heating stopped 
 
 Back in Terminal E, there's not much for four young children to do all day, lodged between Duty Free and the coffee shops. They used to play football in the corridor until they lost their ball behind the currency exchange. 
 
 Every now and then a curious tourist presses their face to the glass of the room, and some take photographs. At one point, a young couple wander in with backpacks, mistaking the room for a rest area. 
 
 There are children's clothes draped all over the radiators. Hasan washes what he can each day in the airport toilets. But the heaters stopped working 10 days ago. 
 
 "Sometimes we are cold. At night time it is very cold," Rinas says. "Here is not good for us." 
 
 Image caption The children say the old smoke room gets cold at night since heaters have stopped working 
 
 And after so long in limbo, Hasan's frustration is growing. 
 
 "They have left us here for more than 40 days. It's not humane!" he says. "Russia can drop bombs in Syria no problem. It costs millions. We are one family. Can they not help us?" 
 
 A Russian girl comes in with a bag of toy cars to give to the children before she catches a flight. She says she read about the family in the newspaper. 
 
 Other well-wishers have sent warm clothes and food, and someone has even set-up a bank account for donations. And this week, after so long on the cold, terminal floor an anonymous sponsor has funded a few, welcome nights in the transit zone hotel. 
 
 But the harsh reality is that the family's asylum case could take months to resolve. Until then the Ahmads are trapped in Terminal E - safe from IS, but stuck in no-man's land. ||||| Hasan Abdo Ahmad Family Archive The family is waiting for a visit from Federal Migration Service officials, after which they hope the criminal investigation against them will be closed, meaning they can leave the airport. 
 
 A family of Iraqi-Syrian asylum seekers has been stuck in Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport for nearly three weeks after Russian border guards confiscated their passports on suspicion they were fake. 
 
 Human rights activists say as asylum seekers fleeing violence at home, the family should be allowed into Russia regardless of any doubt over their travel documents. 
 
 Hasan Abdo Ahmad, a Syrian Kurd, his wife Gulistan Shaho and their four children aged 3 to 13 stepped off the plane from Istanbul into the airport on Sept. 10. 
 
 A Russian border guard promptly took away their passports, saying they might be fake, Shaho and the family lawyer, Roza Akhmedova, told The Moscow Times. 
 
 The Federal Security Service (FSB) then opened a criminal investigation into the family for attempting to cross the border illegally, and the family has been living in airport custody facilities ever since. 
 
 Last Thursday, a court in the Moscow region town of Khimki agreed to release the family on bail of 50,000 rubles ($800) per person, said Akhmedova. Shaho's sister Tamara — a Russian citizen — paid the money. 
 
 But as of Monday evening, the family was still stuck in the airport's transit zone. If they step outside of it, it will constitute an illegal crossing of the border, a crime punishable by up to six years in prison if committed deliberately by a group. 
 
 The family is waiting for a visit from Federal Migration Service officials, after which they hope the criminal investigation against them will be closed, meaning they can leave the airport. 
 
 They are currently surviving on pre-cooked food passed from the outside by Shaho 's sister, as the transit zone restaurants are too expensive, Shaho told The Moscow Times by phone on Monday. They sleep on chairs or on the floor, she said. 
 
 "I wanted to go to the parenting room with my small daughter, but they would not let me in because I did not have my passport and boarding card. The border guards took our passports," she said. 
 
 Escaping a War Zone 
 
 Shaho said that the family lived in the city of Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Her husband worked in a printing house there, while Shaho herself — a native of Kazakhstan who married Ahmad in 2002 — stayed at home to look after their three sons and daughter. Ahmad and Shaho each hold both Syrian and Iraqi citizenship, she said. 
 
 Erbil and the surrounding area is now on the front line of the conflict with the Islamic State, which has repeatedly sent suicide bombers to the city in recent months. 
 
 "When the terrorists came we were really scared. My children were too afraid to go to school and for almost a year they stayed at home with me," said Shaho. 
 
 The family decided to flee to Russia. 
 
 "Four of us had Iraqi passports, but two of the children didn't have a passport," said Shaho. Iraqi officials told them that they were not issuing new passports at that time, she said, and so the family applied for and obtained Syrian passports instead. 
 
 The family then obtained Russian visas from the Russian Consulate in Iraq, crossed the border into Turkey and boarded a plane to Moscow in Istanbul. 
 
 "If our passports were fake, how could we cross borders?" said Shaho. 
 
 The FSB has not issued any comments on the case. 
 
 Hasan Abdo Ahmad Family Archive Ahmad worked in a printing house there, while his wife Shaho stayed at home to look after their three sons and daughter. 
 
 Left in Limbo 
 
 Now the ball is with the migration authorities, said Akhmedova, the lawyer. 
 
 The lawyer said that when an FMS officer eventually comes to the airport to meet with the Ahmads, she will demand that the FSB closes the case against the family on the grounds that they have officially applied for asylum in Russia, rendering the issue of their documents irrelevant. In theory, she said, this will allow them to cross the border into Russia. 
 
 "But the FMS people don't come. And I am not sure if the FSB will listen to them," said Akhmedova. 
 
 A request for comment sent to the FMS federal headquarters went unanswered by the time of publication. 
 
 The family should be allowed to cross into Russia regardless of their status of their travel documents, Svetlana Gannushkina, head of the Civil Assistance Committee, an NGO that helps migrants, told The Moscow Times on Monday. 
 
 According to the UN convention on refugees, asylum seekers who cannot return to their home country because of threats to their lives there cannot be prosecuted even if they cross borders illegally, she said. 
 
 Gannushkina suggested that the low level of Russian officials' professional qualifications and poor knowledge of international laws are to blame for the family's trials and tribulations. 
 
 Akhmedova, the lawyer, said that reality does not resemble the law. 
 
 Last week, she said, she attended a court hearing in Moscow where a young Syrian refugee seeker accused of illegally crossing the Russian border was fined 10,000 rubles ($150). After the trial he decided not to wait for asylum status here and left Russia. 
 
 "An FMS officer told the judge there that it is quiet in Syria now and the man can go home. But the man is from Aleppo! [Syria's largest city that has been devastated by the civil war.] How it can be quiet there?" she said. 
 
 No Road Back 
 
 Shaho said she will not return home and doesn't plan to go anywhere else. 
 
 "I came here for the sake of my children and I will stay," she said, adding that she and her sister Tamara plan to open a small shop in the southern city of Samara where the latter lives with her husband. 
 
 A total of 912 refugees from Syria asked for temporary asylum or refugee status in Russia in January-August this year, the Izvestia newspaper reported last week, citing the FMS. 
 
 That statistic does not reflect the real numbers of people who are fleeing to Russia from the conflict in the Middle East, Yelena Burtina, deputy head of the Civil Assistance Committee, told The Moscow Times. 
 
 The official statistics only comprise people who managed to get registered in the system after a cumbersome procedure — a feat that many newcomers fail to achieve, she said. ||||| (CNN) A Kurdish family that fled the Syrian civil war has landed in a bureaucratic purgatory: the Moscow airport. 
 
 Hassan Abdo Ahmed Mohammed, his wife and four children want to settle in Russia, but the government says their visas are fake. Returning home is out of the question because of the dangers there. 
 
 So the family set up camp inside Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport and wait while their lawyer tries to untangle the red tape. 
 
 Their home for the last 50 days: A barren corner of the airport terminal overlooking the tarmac. Air mattresses are spread on the floor for napping. Suitcases have been pushed against the walls. They can't cook, so UNICEF brings them food. They use airport restrooms. 
 
 With no doors to keep out passersby, they family stretched a cord to mark their space. A hand-written sign says, "Please don't touch our thing (sic) becaus (sic) we are living here." 
 
 The situation improved a little bit recently. The United Nations and a non-governmental organization convinced Russian authorities to let the family spend nights in a hotel located inside the airport terminal, Mohammed told CNN. 
 
 Spending days on a hard floor 
 
 Photos: Kurdish Family Stuck in Moscow Airport Photos: Kurdish Family Stuck in Moscow Airport The children of Hassan Abdo Ahmed Mohammed sleep on an air mattress at a terminal in Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport. Hide Caption 1 of 7 Photos: Kurdish Family Stuck in Moscow Airport Hassan Abdo Ahmed Mohammed, his wife and their four children wait in a Moscow airport terminal. They've been there about 50 days. Hide Caption 2 of 7 Photos: Kurdish Family Stuck in Moscow Airport The family's possessions, are pictured stacked against a wall in the Moscow airport terminal. Hide Caption 3 of 7 Photos: Kurdish Family Stuck in Moscow Airport The children have put stickers on the glass around the area in the airport where the family spends at least half the day. Hide Caption 4 of 7 Photos: Kurdish Family Stuck in Moscow Airport One of Hassan Abdo Ahmed Mohammed's children sits on the air mattress inside the Moscow airport terminal. Hide Caption 5 of 7 Photos: Kurdish Family Stuck in Moscow Airport The family's possessions crowd a corner of the terminal. Hide Caption 6 of 7 Photos: Kurdish Family Stuck in Moscow Airport Pictured is the view from a corner of the airport terminal where the family has been staying. Hide Caption 7 of 7 
 
 "After 44 days of sleeping on the ground of the airport, in the cold, they decided to put us in a hotel," he said. "The condition of the room is not great, and they put us in the smoking area." 
 
 But they must spend their days on the the hard floor of the terminal, hearing every announcement on the blaring public address system and enduring the looks of travelers passing by. 
 
 It's not a good place for the couple's children: three boys, ages 8 to 13, and a 3-year-old daughter. 
 
 "We have not seen the sun for 49 days," Mohammed said to CNN. 
 
 Conditions were so bad that Mohammed's wife became sick and had to spend two weeks in a hospital, he said. 
 
 "We were not allowed to see her, even her kids," he said. "She is back now, but she still does not feel well." 
 
 Family has relatives in Russia 
 
 The situation sounds like a not-so-amusing spinoff of Steven Spielberg's 2004 movie "The Terminal," about a man from Eastern Europe who becomes stuck at JFK International Airport in New York because a revolution in his home country rendered his passport invalid. 
 
 A similar, real-life situation happened when Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency leaker who fled the United States, spent more than a month living in the Moscow Airport before being granted asylum. 
 
 Mohammed and his family are Syrian Kurds who fled a civil war that has left 300,000 people dead and forced 10 million people from their homes. 
 
 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Displaced Syrian residents wait to receive food aid distributed by the UN Relief and Works Agency at the besieged al-Yarmouk camp, south of Damascus, Syria, on January 31, 2014. According to the UN Envoy for Syria, an estimated 400,000 Syrians have been killed since an uprising in March 2011 spiraled into civil war. See how the conflict has unfolded. Hide Caption 1 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Hide Caption 2 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures An injured man lying in the back of a vehicle is rushed to a hospital in Daraa, Syria, on March 23, 2011. Violence flared in Daraa after a group of teens and children were arrested for writing political graffiti. Dozens of people were killed when security forces cracked down on demonstrations. Hide Caption 3 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Anti-government protesters demonstrate in Daraa on March 23, 2011. In response to continuing protests, the Syrian government announced several plans to appease citizens. Hide Caption 4 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Syrian children walk over bricks stored for road repairs during a spontaneous protest June 15, 2011, at a refugee camp near the Syrian border in Yayladagi, Turkey. Hide Caption 5 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Jamal al-Wadi speaks in Istanbul on September 15, 2011, after an alignment of Syrian opposition leaders announced the creation of a Syrian National Council -- their bid to present a united front against Bashar al-Assad's regime and establish a democratic system. Hide Caption 6 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Delegates from Arab League member states and Turkey discuss a response to the government's crackdown in Syria on November 16, 2011. Hide Caption 7 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Supporters of al-Assad celebrate during a referendum vote in Damascus on February 26, 2012. Opposition activists reported at least 55 deaths across the country as Syrians headed to the polls. Analysts and protesters widely described the constitutional referendum as a farce. "Essentially, what (al-Assad's) done here is put a piece of paper that he controls to a vote that he controls so that he can try and maintain control," a US State Department spokeswoman said. Hide Caption 8 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Syrian refugees walk across a field in Syria before crossing into Turkey on March 14, 2012. Hide Caption 9 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Rebel fighters with the Free Syrian Army capture a police officer in Aleppo, Syria, who they believed to be pro-regime militiaman on July 31, 2012. Dozens of officers were reportedly killed as rebels seized police stations in the city. Hide Caption 10 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A Free Syrian Army fighter runs for cover as a Syrian Army tank shell hits a building across the street during clashes in the Salaheddine neighborhood of central Aleppo on August 17, 2012. Hide Caption 11 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Family members mourn the deaths of their relatives in front of a field hospital in Aleppo on August 21, 2012. Hide Caption 12 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A Syrian man carrying grocery bags dodges sniper fire in Aleppo as he runs through an alley near a checkpoint manned by the Free Syrian Army on September 14, 2012. Hide Caption 13 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Free Syrian Army fighters are reflected in a mirror they use to see a Syrian Army post only 50 meters away in Aleppo on September 16, 2012. Hide Caption 14 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Smoke rises over the streets after a mortar bomb from Syria landed in the Turkish border village of Akcakale on October 3, 2012. Five people were killed. In response, Turkey fired on Syrian targets and its parliament authorized a resolution giving the government permission to deploy soldiers to foreign countries. Hide Caption 15 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A Syrian rebel walks inside a burnt section of the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo hours before the Syrian army retook control of the complex on October 14, 2012. Hide Caption 16 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures An Israeli tank crew sits on the Golan Heights overlooking the Syrian village of Breqa on November 6, 2012. Israel fired warning shots toward Syria after a mortar shell hit an Israeli military post. It was the first time Israel fired on Syria across the Golan Heights since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Hide Caption 17 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Smoke rises in the Hanano and Bustan al-Basha districts in Aleppo as fighting continues through the night on December 1, 2012. Hide Caption 18 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures The bodies of three children are laid out for identification by family members at a makeshift hospital in Aleppo on December 2, 2012. The children were allegedly killed in a mortar shell attack that landed close to a bakery in the city. Hide Caption 19 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A father reacts after the deaths of two of his children in Aleppo on January 3, 2013. Hide Caption 20 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Syrians look for survivors amid the rubble of a building targeted by a missile in the al-Mashhad neighborhood of Aleppo on January 7, 2013. Hide Caption 21 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Rebels launch a missile near the Abu Baker brigade in Al-Bab, Syria, on January 16, 2013. Hide Caption 22 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures An aerial view shows the Zaatari refugee camp near the Jordanian city of Mafraq on July 18, 2013. Hide Caption 23 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures The UN Security Council passes a resolution September 27, 2013, requiring Syria to eliminate its arsenal of chemical weapons. Al-Assad said he would abide by the resolution. Hide Caption 24 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Residents run from a fire at a gasoline and oil shop in Aleppo's Bustan Al-Qasr neighborhood on October 20, 2013. Witnesses said the fire was caused by a bullet from a pro-government sniper. Hide Caption 25 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Syrian children wait as doctors perform medical checkups at a refugee center in Sofia, Bulgaria, on October 26, 2013. Hide Caption 26 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures An injured man is helped following an airstrike in Aleppo's Maadi neighborhood on December 17, 2013. Hide Caption 27 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A man holds a baby who was rescued from rubble after an airstrike in Aleppo on February 14, 2014. Hide Caption 28 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A US ship staff member wears personal protective equipment at a naval airbase in Rota, Spain, on April 10, 2014. A former container vessel was fitted out with at least $10 million of gear to let it take on about 560 metric tons of Syria's most dangerous chemical agents and sail them out to sea, officials said. Hide Caption 29 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A Free Syrian Army fighter fires a rocket-propelled grenade during heavy clashes in Aleppo on April 27, 2014. Hide Caption 30 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A giant poster of al-Assad is seen in Damascus on May 31, 2014, ahead of the country's presidential elections. He received 88.7% of the vote in the country's first election after the civil war broke out. Hide Caption 31 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Rebel fighters execute two men on July 25, 2014, in Binnish, Syria. The men were reportedly charged by an Islamic religious court with detonating several car bombs. Hide Caption 32 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Photographs of victims of the Assad regime are displayed as a Syrian army defector known as "Caesar," center, appears in disguise to speak before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington. The July 31, 2014, briefing was called "Assad's Killing Machine Exposed: Implications for U.S. Policy." Caesar, apparently a witness to the regime's brutality, smuggled more than 50,000 photographs depicting the torture and execution of more than 10,000 dissidents. CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the photos, documents and testimony referenced in the report. Hide Caption 33 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Volunteers remove a dead body from under debris after shelling in Aleppo on August 29, 2014. According to the Syrian Civil Defense, barrel bombs are now the greatest killer of civilians in many parts of Syria. The White Helmets are a humanitarian organization that tries to save lives and offer relief. Hide Caption 34 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Medics tend to a man's injuries at a field hospital in Douma after airstrikes on September 20, 2014. Hide Caption 35 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A long-exposure photograph shows a rocket being launched in Aleppo on October 5, 2014. Hide Caption 36 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Rebel fighters dig caves in the mountains for bomb shelters in the northern countryside of Hama on March 9, 2015. Hide Caption 37 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Nusra Front fighters inspect a helicopter belonging to pro-government forces after it crashed in the rebel-held Idlib countryside on March 22, 2015. Hide Caption 38 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A Syrian child fleeing the war gets lifted over fences to enter Turkish territory illegally near a border crossing at Akcakale, Turkey, on June 14, 2015. Hide Caption 39 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A refugee carries mattresses as he re-enters Syria from Turkey on June 22, 2015, after Kurdish People's Protection Units regained control of the area around Tal Abyad, Syria, from ISIS. Hide Caption 40 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A sandstorm blows over damaged buildings in the rebel-held area of Douma, east of Damascus, on September 7, 2015. Hide Caption 41 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Members of a Syrian opposition group attack the headquarters of al-Assad regime forces in the Aleppo villages of Nubul and al-Zahraa on February 12, 2016. Hide Caption 42 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures This still image, taken from a video posted by the Aleppo Media Center, shows a young boy in an ambulance after an airstrike in Aleppo, Syria, on August 17, 2016. It took nearly an hour to dig the boy, identified as Omran Daqneesh, out from the rubble, an activist told CNN. The airstrike destroyed his home, where he lived with his parents and two siblings. Director of the Aleppo Media Center Yousef Saddiq said Omran's 10-year-old brother, Ali, died from his injuries. Hide Caption 43 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Smoke rises after an airstrike in Aleppo on October 4, 2016. Hide Caption 44 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Arabic writing that reads "some day we will return" is seen on a bus window as civilians evacuate Aleppo on December 15, 2016. The evacuations began under a new ceasefire between rebels and pro-government forces. Hide Caption 45 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures This photo, provided by the activist Idlib Media Center, shows dead children after a suspected chemical attack in the rebel-held city of Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017. Dozens of people were killed, according to multiple activist groups. The United States responded a few days later by launching between 50-60 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian government airbase. US officials said the base was home to warplanes that carried out the chemical attack. Syria has repeatedly denied it had anything to do with the attack. Hide Caption 46 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Members of the UN Security Council raise their hands on April 12, 2017, as they vote in favor of a draft resolution that condemned the reported use of chemical weapons in Syria. Hide Caption 47 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Residents of the war-torn city of Douma break their Ramadan fast on June 18, 2017. Hide Caption 48 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A member of the Syrian pro-regime forces fires a machine gun as a comrade holds his feeding ammunition belt on November 11, 2017. It was during an advance toward rebel-held positions west of Aleppo. Hide Caption 49 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures A child receives medical treatment after a village was attacked in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region on February 25, 2018. Several people were treated for exposure to chlorine gas, opposition groups said, as airstrikes and artillery fire from the regime continued. CNN was unable to independently verify claims that chlorine was used as a weapon. Hide Caption 50 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Bodies lie on the ground in the rebel-held city of Douma, Syria, on April 8, 2018. According to activist groups, helicopters dropped barrel bombs filled with toxic gas on Douma, which has been the focus of a renewed government offensive that launched in mid-February. The Syrian government and its key ally, Russia, vehemently denied involvement and accused rebel groups of fabricating the attack to hinder the army's advances and provoke international military intervention. Hide Caption 51 of 52 Photos: Syria's civil war, in pictures Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire as the US and its allies launch an attack on Syria's capital early on April 14, 2018. US President Donald Trump announced airstrikes in retaliation for Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons. Trump says the strikes are part of a sustained military response, in coordination with France and the United Kingdom. Hide Caption 52 of 52 
 
 While thousands of refugees from Syria, Iraq and other Mideast nations flowed into Europe, Mohammed and his family headed for Russia. He said they chose that country because his wife's sister and cousin live there. 
 
 After leaving Syria, they ended up in Ibril, a Kurdish city in north Iraq. They applied for visas to Russia and flew to Istanbul and then to Moscow. That's when their forward progress came to a halt. 
 
 "When we arrived the airport in Moscow, we were told to wait for a security check," Mohammed said. "After few days we were told that our visas are fake." 
 
 Russia wanted to deport the family back to Syria. But "if I go back, the regime will kill me and my family," Mohammed said. 
 
 He asked for permission to return to Istanbul or Ibril, but the Russians refused, he said. 
 
 Tied up in red tape 
 
 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. 
 
 Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the country has taken in 1 million refugees from Ukraine and accepted 8,000 people from Syria in September. 
 
 Unlike some European countries, Russia has not relaxed its immigration laws for the recent wave of Mideastern immigrants, Zakharova said, and will not change the laws for this family. People wanting to enter the country must have proper documentation, she said. 
 
 The family has mounted a small-scale media campaign to make their case. 
 
 "Hi, my name is Raynass Mohammed," the 13-year-old son says on a video. "We are from Syria. We are living in an airport, and this is our life. We want you to help us, please. The airport is very cold for sleeping and for sitting." 
 
 Mohammed can only fume -- and keep waiting. 
 
 "Officials at the airport treated me like a terrorist," he said. "Do I look like a terrorist? Is this how they treat a father surrounded by his wife and his four kids, all desperate to live a normal life?"
– For the past 50 days, a Syrian couple and their four children have spent almost every waking hour in a small corner of Moscow's airport. Until a week ago, the family—including three boys, aged 7 to 12, and a 3-year-old girl—also slept there, though Russian officials have since put them up at night in a hotel located within Sheremetyevo International Airport, reports CNN. Denied entry into Russia and unable to return to Syria where they fear they will be killed, the Kurdish family is living in limbo in the old smoking room next to departure gate 36 in Terminal E, though they hope to eventually settle in Russia where they have family, reports the BBC. CNN reports the Russian government found the family's visas to be fake, though other reports differ on that. Quartz reports the family's passports were authenticated but quotes an aid worker who says she was told the family's "request for asylum will be denied because of the criminal charges for crossing the border illegally." Hasan Abdo Ahmad suspects his family was denied entry because of Russia's ties to Syria, though Russia's Foreign Ministry says the country took in 8,000 Syrians last month (the BBC reports 1,600 Syrians have been given temporary asylum and just three have refugee status). Ahmad says the family first escaped to Irbil, Iraq, but they applied for visas to Russia as the Islamic State drew nearer. They crossed into Turkey and reached Moscow via Istanbul on Sept. 10, per the Moscow Times. "I just feel so sorry for my children," Ahmad's wife, Gulistan, adds. "They want to know what we've done so wrong for this to happen." For now, they wait, as lawyers try to plead their case. (Mystery surrounds the death of a journalist at an airport this month.)