KARACHI: The Foreign Office has stated that 84 Pakistani nationals, who are being held at Moscow airport since early Thursday morning, are likely to be deported by evening.

"The Foreign Office is in touch with the Russian embassy in Islamabad on the matter," said FO spokesperson Nafees Zakaria.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has taken notice of the reports of Pakistanis stranded in Moscow and has directed Pakistan's Ambassador in Russia to help them, a statement issued by the PM Office said.

It said the premier had directed the Pakistan Ambassador in Russia to take up the matter with Russian authorities at the earliest.

Later, the FO spokesman in a statement said Russian authorities had "granted consular access" to the Pakistan embassy in Moscow to meet the stranded individuals.

"A Russian-speaking embassy official is meeting the stranded passengers. The issue is also being taken up with the Russian embassy in Islamabad," Zakaria said.

He said the Russian foreign ministry had "confirmed that the stranded passengers were served with food and are being looked after appropriately."

"They will be repatriated by evening today and those who were earlier repatriated are in transit in Istanbul," he added.

Russia deported 48 Pakistanis yesterday, who were part of a group that was held after landing in the country for a business trip, the FO spokesman said.

He said the Russian government informed the Pakistan embassy in Moscow that 48 Pakistanis were being deported but did not give reasons for detaining them.

A video and pictures circulating on social media showed a group of people waiting in a crowded room at the airport while in purported detention.

Television reports said the Pakistanis, who are part of a group of traders, were travelling to Russia for an exhibition when they were detained at Moscow airport, along with a few people coming from other countries.

The man recording the group's video said the Pakistanis landed in Moscow at about 2.30am local time and were being detained at the airport for the past eight hours.

"We have not been given any reason [for the detainment]," another man could be heard saying in the video.

The man recording the video added that the group was distributed into three different rooms, but because the rooms were not big enough, there was not enough space for everyone to fit in comfortably.

The video showed a number of people sitting, while several others can be seen lying on the floor.

Some Turkish nationals were also held by authorities, the man recording said, adding that they were later allowed to leave.

This comes two days after terror attacks in Brussels, which killed 31 people and wounded 270, sending shockwaves across Europe.

Moscow is among the European capitals that beefed up security at their airports after the terror attack in Brussels.