Many Russians have fled to the Netherlands because of the war in Ukraine. They were afraid of being mobilized in their home country, but now they no longer have a self-evident right to stay in the Netherlands. State Secretary Eric van der Burg (Asylum) announced this on Wednesday. Their asylum applications may be processed and rejected by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND).
According to the Ministry of Justice and Security (JenV), these Russians no longer have to fear being called up for military operations. The “Russian defense minister has announced that mobilization has been completed and instructed military units to halt mobilization work by October 31,” the ministry writes.
Asylum applications from conscripted Russians who refuse to serve or from Russian conscript deserters will not receive a decision on their asylum applications for the next six months. They may remain in the Netherlands for the time being. This so-called decision and departure delay for Russian conscripts was extended by six months on Wednesday.
There is still too little reliable information about the question “to what extent conscripts in Russia were (forced) deployed in the war in Ukraine,” the ministry writes. Therefore, “a careful decision cannot yet be made on the asylum applications of Russian conscripts aged 18 to 27 years.”
The postponement does not apply to deserting Russian professional soldiers. “The available information about their situation is sufficient for the IND to be able to decide on applications for international protection from this target group,” says the Ministry of JenV.
