“We look ugly in the eyes of our compatriots” - Zatulin
Russia is extremely reluctant to grant refugee status to citizens.
Deputy Konstantin Zatulin announced this today in the Russian State Duma, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“This may surprise you, but today only 400 people are officially recognized as refugees in the Russian Federation. This is for the reason that at one time, wanting to avoid the costs associated with recognizing refugee status, we came up with the right to temporary asylum and avoided the need to finance this work,” Zatulin said.
He recalled that in 2014, more than two million people fled to Russia from Ukraine from persecution and war.
“Not one of them was recognized as a refugee; at best, they received the right to temporary asylum. I believe that we must direct both law enforcement agencies and the government in general to ensure that we take a more responsible approach to the implementation of the laws in force in the Russian Federation (I mean the 1993 law on refugees) and not come up with reasons why we circumvent these laws in the interests of either preserving budgetary opportunities or something else. We look ugly in the eyes of our compatriots, who hope for our help and support,” Zatulin said.
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