The purpose of this report is to provide information regarding political dissent and opposition in the Russian Federation for international protection status determination, including refugee status and subsidiary protection, and in particular for the drafting of the EUAA Country Guidance on the Russian Federation.
The report addresses topics related to the situation and treatment of individuals, who express disagreement or dissatisfaction with the current political situation in the Russian Federation and Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, by the state authorities.
The reference period of this report is 1 January 2022 – 16 November 2022. Additional information was added during the quality review process up until 10 December 2022.
This report was written by the COI Sector of EUAA. The following departments and organisations have reviewed the report, together with EUAA:
- France, Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA), Information, Documentation and Research Division (DIDR);
- The Czech Republic, Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic, Department for Asylum and Migration Policy.
The report was drafted and reviewed in line with the EUAA COI Report Methodology (2019) and the EUAA COI Writing and Referencing Style Guide (2019).
Policy
The policy implemented by the Commissioner General is based on a thorough analysis of accurate and up-to-date information on the general situation in the country of origin. This information is collated in a professional manner from various, objective sources, including the EUAA, the UNHCR, relevant international human rights organisations, non-governmental organisations, professional literature and coverage in the media. When determining policy, the Commissioner General does not only examine the COI Focuses written by Cedoca and published on this website, as these deal with just one aspect of the general situation in the country of origin. The fact that a COI Focus could be out-of-date does not mean that the policy that is being implemented by the Commissioner General is no longer up-to-date.
When assessing an application for asylum, the Commissioner General not only considers the actual situation in the country of origin at the moment of decision-making, he also takes into account the individual situation and personal circumstances of the applicant for international protection. Every asylum application is examined individually. An applicant must comprehensively demonstrate that he has a well-founded fear of persecution or that there is a clear personal risk of serious harm. He cannot, therefore, simply refer back to the general conditions in his country, but must also present concrete, credible and personal facts.
There is no policy paper for this country available on the website.