Israel's Population and Immigration Authority claims that it doesn’t follow a non-deportation policy toward Russian nationals, but in practice, Israel has refrained from deporting them due to the danger they face in their home country
Israeli authorities over the past year have stopped examining asylum applications from Russian nationals staying in the country and halted the deportation of those without legal residency, according to a recent state response to the court and the testimony of two sources.
While the Population and Immigration Authority claims that it doesn’t follow a non-deportation policy toward Russian nationals, Israel refrained from deporting them due to the danger they face in their home country.
Last year, the Foreign Ministry was required to draft a legal opinion concerning the dangers Russian citizens face in Russia, but the report was never submitted to the court of appeals as the state repeatedly requested to postpone its formation.
This led to the outcome that the court granted Russian asylum seekers temporary legal residency similar to that received by Eritreans, Sudanese and other members of communities who received group protection from deportation.
Last week, Judge Bafi Tam ruled on three appeals by Russian asylum seekers who sought refuge in Israel even before Russia’s war in Ukraine began, and were represented by attorney Ariel Tokov. In her decision, Tam noted that in June of last year, state representatives said that the Foreign Ministry was re-examining its opinion regarding the extent of the expected danger to Russians who are sent back to their home country.
Tam’s ruling further stated that as the last legal opinion was written in 2019, the Foreign Ministry is required to submit an updated one. She also noted that the state has decided to halt the procedure for expedited examination of asylum applications which was applied to Russian nationals and to the processing of all received applications.
A source familiar with the details said to Haaretz that if Russian nationals who entered the country without a legal permit were not deported, there was no need to inspect their asylum applications.
Since no date was set for the submission of the state’s new legal opinion, Tam determined that there was no sufficient factual basis to determine the matter. In the meantime, no further legal steps will be taken against the three asylum seekers, and they will receive a temporary residence permit.
One of the asylum seekers who received a temporary permit following last week’s decision is a 50-year-old man from the Russian city of Yekaterinburg going by the alias Andrei. Andrei arrived in Israel at the end of 2019 and has a different story, unlike many other Russian nationals who have fled Russia in recent years due to fear of political persecution.
Speaking to Haaretz, Andrei said he was forced to leave Russia after exposing corruption at a food manufacturing company where he worked as a supervisor. “I realized that they can simply ruin my life,” he said. “I never cease to admire Israel and all the work invested here to make it look the way it looks today,” he added.
Another asylum seeker using the alias Alexei, is a 28-year-old man who claims he arrived in Israel at the end of 2019. Alexei told Haaretz that he left Russia because he was afraid that the authorities would persecute him for his support of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. “I dared to demonstrate twice,” he said.
“I think I support Navalny like most young [Russians] between 17 and 30 who want change or at the very least to live under a new government and see what it’s like […]. Although no one needs me here, in Israel I feel much safer than in Russia,” Alexei added.
During the first year of the war in Ukraine, roughly 104,000 Russian nationals entered Israel on tourist visas, most of them coming at the end of the year following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announced a mass compulsory draft. According to the Population and Immigration Authority’s estimates, around seven percent of Russian nationals on tourist visas remained in Israel after their visas expired.
According to a report by the Israeli NGO Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, as of January 4, 2023, about 32,000 citizens of countries involved in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and who arrived in Israel after the war began are still in the country. The report notes that about 16,000 of them are Russian citizens, about 14,000 are Ukrainians and some 1,000 are from Belarus. The data further shows that from 2019 to 2022, Russian nationals were the group that submitted the largest number of asylum applications – some 5,866 – which is more than a quarter of all asylum applications in 2022.
“Temporary and renewed decisions on non-enforcement [of deportation] aren’t a substitute for an asylum policy. It’s good to know that Russian citizens who fear the situation in their home country are now protected. However, it’s inconceivable that they would now join the masses of asylum seekers whose applications are not examined by the population and immigration authority. If Israel believes that Russia isn’t a safe country, it should grant Russian nationals staying here appropriate visas and social rights […],” Shira Abu of the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants told Haaretz.
The Population and Immigration Authority said in response that “These are Russian nationals who applied for asylum in Israel, which was rejected by the court of appeals. The appeal they filed against this latest decision is under consideration. It should be stressed that this case does not involve the policy of non-deportation.”