Norway rejects asylum claim from Russian fleeing mobilisation

The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) has rejected the asylum application of a Russian man fleeing mobilisation, independent Norwegian news outlet The Barents Observer reported on Thursday.

Pavel Suetin showed journalists the rejection letter he received from the UDI stating that Norway granted asylum to people at risk of persecution due to their nationality, political views or other factors, or those at real risk of the death penalty, torture or inhumane and degrading treatment.

The UDI said that it had decided that none of the criteria applied to Suetin, adding that there was currently no mobilisation in Russia, citing statements made by Vladimir Putin and former Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu pronouncing an end to mobilisation in October 2022.

While the UDI noted there had been no formal decree to end mobilisation, it said call-up papers were no longer being issued and that the ranks of the Russian military were currently being filled by volunteers motivated by generous pay.

The UDI added that Russian men of military age were not barred from leaving the country, and that those who had subsequently returned after leaving Russia during mobilisation had not been arrested.

Suetin left the city of Severomorsk in Russia’s northern Murmansk region a day after police and military officers rang his doorbell in late 2022. Having pretended not to be home, Suetin travelled to the town of Vadsø in northern Norway where his mother lives, from where he applied for political asylum.

The UDI letter gave Suetin three weeks to leave the Schengen zone. His case is the first of its kind in Norway, The Barents Observer noted, and could have implications for other Russian asylum seekers fleeing mobilisation.