Netherlands will no longer automatically grant shelter to Russian fugitives
Russians who fled to Netherlands for fear of being drafted into Russian army will no longer automatically have any right to stay in this country.
It was reported by Censor.NЕТ referring to European Truth.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) considers the cases of Russian draft dodgers in the same way as other people's asylum applications and therefore also has the right to reject their applications.
Three months ago, Secretary of State Van der Burgh announced that Russian citizens who fled the draft would be allowed to stay in the country. This was done to prevent these people from being persecuted if they returned.
According to Van der Burgh, the situation has now changed: Russia has announced that mobilization is complete. IND has enough information to make a decision on granting asylum in individual cases, the Secretary of State wrote to the House of Representatives.
The situation is different with conscripted Russians who deserted or refuse to serve. No decision on providing them with asylum will be made yet, which means that they can automatically stay.
"This is because we lack up-to-date, unambiguous and reliable information on the extent to which conscripts in Russia were (forcibly) involved in the war in Ukraine," Van der Burg said.
Martin van der Linden from the Council for Refugees in the Netherlands does not understand that for Russians who escaped from mobilization, a different choice is made. "They have as much insecurity as deserters and conscientious objectors. We are afraid they might get into big trouble when they return, or that they might even end up fighting in Ukraine," Van der Linden said.
According to him, hundreds of thousands of Russians fled from mobilization, but the number of people who came to the Netherlands is small. "Most of them often traveled to countries such as Turkey, Armenia and Georgia. A very small number decided to come to the EU. In the Netherlands it concerns dozens of people. We are not talking about a significant group that needs a prompt decision."
