Latvia granted asylum to a Russian who fought on the side of Ukraine

A court in Latvia ordered the country’s authorities to provide asylum to a Russian citizen who fought on the side of Ukraine. Earlier, he was refused by the Latvian migration services due to insufficient evidence, but at the end of December, the court ruled that he has the right to protection.

As specified by the Latvian publication Delfi, the Russian, whose name is not given, appealed to the court in 2022. He was born in Latvia, later lived in Ukraine, but had Russian citizenship. In 2014, he volunteered in the “Donbass” battalion, which fought with separatists. A few months later, he left the team, as he could no longer participate in battles due to the injuries he received.

The militiaman tried to obtain Ukrainian citizenship or a residence permit, but he could not provide the authorities with a complete package of documents, since his Russian passport was burned during the shelling, and he was afraid to go to Russia to restore the documents.

After the start of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, he went to Latvia to apply for refugee status there. The migration services stated that they had not received sufficient evidence that he had actively participated in hostilities and that he was at risk of persecution in Russia. The former volunteer contested the decision of the migration services in court. The State Security Service of Latvia also agreed that it does not see any obstacles to granting him refugee status.