Russia

# Asylum Seekers# Human Rights# National Security

President Biden Must Protect Russian Refugees

This article is by Stanislav Stanskikh, a Visiting Scholar at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Research Fellow at UNC-Chapel Hill, and founder of The New England Institute for Country Conditions Expertise. He may be reached here: stanskikh [at] countryconditions.expert

There is an ongoing debate about whether Russians fleeing political repressions and the military draft should be granted refuge in the United States and the West, or whether protection should be refused so that these potential refugees rebel against the Kremlin instead. Opponents also draw a line between “real” refugees and those who left Russia merely to save themselves despite their prior loyalty to the regime. While the Baltic countries and Poland are turning away new arrivals, Germany and some other EU members have extended their welcome by generously granting refugee status. The President of the European Council Charles Michel favors opening the EU to fleeing Russians.

What about the United States?

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By Jason Dzubow
# Asylees and Refugees

Russian Asylee Puts Bounty on Putin’s Head

In the late 1990s, I was a law clerk in the Arlington, Virginia Immigration Court. My most memorable case involved a wealthy Russian businessman named Alex Konanykhin and his wife, Elena Gratcheva. Mr. Konanykhin made his fortune–around a quarter billion dollars–in the Wild West of post-Soviet Russia, but was then chased from his country by former KGB agents and criminals intent on stealing his money. The Individual Hearing that I attended took a full week, which is almost unheard of in Immigration Court. Mr. Konanykhin’s attorney was the legendary Michael Maggio, who I got to know a bit during the trial. My role was to sit in the courtroom and take notes. After the hearing, I helped the Immigration Judge write up the decision granting asylum.

There was more to this case, including an appeal to the BIA, improper behavior by several U.S. government officials that resulted in a $100,000 payment to Mr. Konanykhin, an unsuccessful attempt by the couple to evade border authorities and enter Canada, and several different federal court cases. When the dust finally settled from this ten-year odyssey, Mr. Konanykhin received asylum in the U.S. (around the same time, his wife–who was a dependent on his case–passed away).

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By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers# International

Asylum for Russian Defectors

Last week, Vladimir Putin and his supporters launched a vicious and unjustified war against Ukraine. The war is an act of mass murder and terror against the people of Ukraine. Given Mr. Putin’s history of oppression at home and violent interventions abroad, there is little reason to be optimistic about how (or when) this war will end. And of course, there is a real danger that the situation will escalate into something much larger.

It is unclear how much support the war has from ordinary Russians. Perhaps many within Russia have been misled by “President” Putin’s propaganda machine, which has repeatedly and falsely accused the Ukrainian government of persecuting Russian speakers in Ukraine, and which has painted the war in terms of Russia standing up to the West. While Mr. Putin’s popularity seems to have increased before fighting started, there are signs that many Russian’s are not buying what he is selling. Indeed, protests have continued throughout the country despite a government crackdown.

And what of Russians living abroad? They are less likely to be swayed by Mr. Putin’s false propaganda, as they have access to more reliable sources of news. My sense is that most Russians in the diaspora oppose the current war.

In this post, I am interested in a specific sub-set of Russians living outside their country: Diplomats and other government employees. If such people defect to protest the unjust war against Ukraine, would they be eligible for political asylum or some other relief in the United States?

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By Jason Dzubow
# Asylees and Refugees# Asylum

Preemptive Asylum for Ukrainians

Vladimir Putin has had a gun to the head of Ukraine for years. The most recent troubles began in 2014, when a pro-Russian president of Ukraine fled to Russia, rather than submit to an impeachment vote (he was impeached anyway). Several regions of Ukraine declared loyalty to the former president, and fighting broke out. Ultimately, parts of Ukraine came under Kremlin control, including the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed after an “election” by that region’s residents. Since then, fighting and allegations between the two nations have waxed and waned, but the Russians did not move towards a major escalation–until recently.

The current buildup began last fall, and there are now more than 100,000 Russian soldiers and Ukrainian separatists deployed for war. Analyst have suggested that a large-scale invasion is likely in the coming days or weeks. What does this mean for Ukrainian citizens in the United States who face possible persecution if Russia takes over or installs a pro-Russian puppet? Can such people file for asylum now, even though a Russian invasion is still speculative?

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By Jason Dzubow
# International

Russia Angered by UK Asylum Grant

Recently, I wrote about people from friendly countries receiving asylum in the United States. There are few such cases, and they generally seem to be aberrations.  For these reasons, the source countries are not particularly concerned that we are granting asylum to their nationals.  That is not always the case, however. Earlier this month, the United … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# International

Former U.S. Marine Seeks Asylum in Russia

A former Marine who claims to have exposed clandestine U.S. support for the Republic of Georgia in its 2008 war with Russia has requested political asylum in Russia.  U.S. citizen Patrick Downey first sought asylum in Ireland, where his case was denied–as he puts it–by Ireland’s first ever Jewish Minister for Justice, Equality and Defense.  … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers

Asylum for an Anti-Semite?

A recent editorial in the Moscow Times calls on the U.S. to deny political asylum to Ashot Yegiazaryan, a member of the Russian Duma from the nationalistic Liberal Democratic Party, who fled to the United States to escape criminal charges related to some shady business deals. Like a number of Russian oligarchs, Mr. Yegiazaryan made … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers# International

Russian Arms Merchant: U.S. Offered Me Asylum in Exchange for Information

The wife of alleged Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout claims that U.S. officials offered political asylum to Mr. Bout and his family in exchange for information about international arms trafficking. According to Voice of America, Mr. Bout was extradited from Thailand to the United States after more than two-years of legal battles between Moscow and Washington.  … Read more

By Jason Dzubow