Yle: Hundreds of Russians want to get asylum in Finland and cannot
Photo: pxhere.com
The Finnish newspaper Yle reported on the growing number of Russians applying for asylum in Finland. According to the immigration service, the situation has become more complicated due to the suspension of the development of general principles for working with asylum seekers from Russia by the European Union Asylum Agency (EUAA). Each EU member state is now forced to develop its own guidelines for dealing with such requests, including Finland.
These changes only came into force in the spring of 2024, and the new instructions require each case to be considered individually, taking into account the risks to applicants and the possible consequences of a refusal of asylum. Interestingly, from the beginning of October 2022 to the end of May 2024, the Finnish Immigration Service received 714 applications from Russians, but at the moment more than 1.1 thousand applications are being considered, of which 400 were filed by women.
During this period, 232 positive and 95 negative decisions were made to grant asylum to Russians, and 363 applications were withdrawn. The head of the asylum department of the Finnish Immigration Service, Antti Lehtinen, noted that the majority of those who withdrew their applications returned to Russia or went to other countries, such as the Middle East and Turkey, where they have a visa-free regime.
An increase in the number asylum requests from Russians were recorded by the Finnish Migration Service after the announcement of partial mobilization in Russia on September 21, 2022.