On Wednesday, the Dutch State Secretary for Asylum Eric van der Burg announced that the country may send Russians back to their home country. Having been granted asylum as an escape from military conscription, the Dutch Government has now questioned which Russian citizens are being deployed in the war with Ukraine.
The Netherlands' Immigration and Naturalisation Service had allowed Russian men between the ages of 18 and 27 to stay in their country after Russia called a 'partial' military conscription in the war in Ukraine.
However, van der Burg announced on Wednesday that 'fear of being mobilised' was no longer a legitimate reason for the country to grant Russian refugees asylum status.
To further explain their decision, the ministry explained that they did not possess enough information on "the extent to which conscripts in Russia were (forcibly) deployed in the war in Ukraine."
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According to the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, the government's decision had been based on a speech made by the Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in late October, where he stated that the mobilisation of troops had been completed.
Therefore, the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service believe that Russian refugees' fears over being deployed in Ukraine would "only concern a possible future scenario."
