Latvia refuses asylum to a Russian citizen who served in a secret missile force facility

Latvia has refused asylum to a Russian citizen serving in the once secret facility of the missile troops, who is allegedly under threat of being sent to fight in Ukraine.

According to the publicly available judgment of the Administrative District Court of April 29, in September 2022, a Russian citizen applied to the State Border Guard with an application for the granting of refugee or alternative status in Latvia.

The man does not recognize the existing regime in Russia and does not support Russia’s war on the territory of Ukraine. He has also posted posts and comments on the social network “Facebook” condemning the hostilities on the territory of Ukraine and the actions of the Russian president. Also, he does not want to be involved in hostilities in Ukraine, where he would be forced to kill innocent people, especially Ukrainians, besides, the man himself has Ukrainian roots.

In 2018, the man submitted a request for obtaining Ukrainian citizenship based on the citizenship of his grandparents, but this procedure was too complicated, and he did not succeed in obtaining Ukrainian citizenship.

The decision of the Citizenship and Migration Affairs Board (PMLP) refused to grant the man refugee and alternative status. The Russian citizen appealed to the Administrative District Court, where he argued that he was included in the military reserve, thus he would be obliged to fight. Russian authorities have already tried to identify the applicant as a person who would go to war if necessary.

Also, his presence in a NATO member creates an additional threat for him to be persecuted in Russia. The applicant once served at a secret and important military facility for Russia, which is responsible for the country’s nuclear weapons policy and the provision of nuclear weapons.

The man claimed in court that he was granted access to information containing state secrets, as a result of which he was prohibited from leaving Russia for a certain period of time. When he returns to Russia, he will be considered a state criminal because he tried to get asylum in a NATO member state.

In the judgment, the court found that, according to what was stated in the personal interview, the applicant served in the missile troops, in the security battalion, from 2002 to 2004.

The applicant was a deputy platoon leader and for some time also performed the duties of deputy company commander. The court took into account the mentioned circumstances presented by the applicant, however, at the same time, the court had no objective basis to recognize that the case materials would point to the efforts of the Russian authorities to forcefully mobilize him and send him to fight in Ukraine.

An applicant who served in compulsory service more than 20 years ago, and whose age is 43, is not considered a priority person to be drafted into the army. Taking into account the applicant’s previous experience in compulsory service, the possibility cannot be excluded that the applicant could potentially be conscripted into the Russian military service at some point in the future, but at the time of drafting the judgment, the court recognizes this threat as hypothetical.

The court recognized that the PMLP rightly stated in the appealed decision that the applicant cannot be considered a person whose political views or actions could be the basis for his possible political persecution in Russia. Also, the applicant has not been politically active, has not publicly expressed or published his political position. Taking into account the above, the court rejected the man’s application for the issuance of a favorable administrative act on the granting of refugee or alternative status in Latvia.