Norway suspends consideration of political asylum applications from Russians
The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) has suspended the consideration of political asylum applications from Russian citizens, UDI’s representative Wenche Fone says, as quoted by channel TV 2.
The agency attributes this to developing new rules for consideration of Russian applications on granting asylum. Currently, over 300 Russian citizens are waiting for the immigration office’s decision. They are staying in the reception centres for asylum seekers. None of the applications have been considered so far, Fone notes.
She claims that it is impossible to say when processing of the applications will begin at this point, seeing as it depends on the situation in Russia and Ukraine.
Fone clarifies that Norway is planning to coordinate the process of receiving applications from Russians with other European Union’s agencies.
“This is a very complicated and challenging situation, we have to conduct a thorough examination. We seek cooperation and want to see how Europe is dealing [with this issue],” she says.
Some Russians left for Norway, trying to evade mobilisation announced by Vladimir Putin on 21 September. Afterwards, the Norwegian Embassy announced its intentions to strengthen the control on the Russian-Norwegian border.
