Translated material
About bureaucrats and people. Who in Europe needs anti-war Russians in the fifth year of the war - a great conversation with the coordinator of the In Transit project
On June 12, the new EU Migration Pact came into force. It radically changes the rules for granting political asylum in Europe and will also affect thousands of Russians. Konstantin Shavlovsky spoke with the coordinator of the InTransit project , which provides assistance to anti-war Russians, about whether it is worth going to Europe in the fifth year of the war, who Germany will extradite to Russia, why France stopped renewing APS, whether Europe helps Russian deserters, who the “legionnaires” are and why they have it the worst. A big, complex and important conversation about people and bureaucrats.
“The EU seems to have nothing to do with it”
— On June 12, the new EU Migration Pact came into force. What is new in it for people with Russian citizenship, and how will it affect them?
— In short: everything is new and will have a bad effect.
This is a major reform of the rules for granting political asylum in the EU, which has been approved for a long time by the European Commission and the European Parliament; they have been working on this for more than 10 years. The pact was adopted two years ago, and now its implementation has begun, which should be completed within a year.
First of all, the so-called cross-border procedures have changed. Now, when crossing the border, asylum seekers will undergo mandatory screening, which includes a preliminary analysis of the case. Special closed centers should be created at the border where people will stay while their cases are being processed. If previously they could move relatively freely during their job search, now they will be isolated from the world.
- Very similar to American hatchlings.
— Yes, this is all very similar to the American system. And it is not clear how people will be able to contact lawyers and human rights activists from there, how much time will be given for calls, whether there will be Internet and a device there to send emails, and so on.
But perhaps the main innovation is the accelerated procedure for considering cases. At the initial screening, they will decide whether the application will be considered according to the usual or accelerated procedure. And the accelerated procedure includes, firstly, all citizens of so-called safe countries, as well as those countries whose citizens in the previous year received less than 20% of approvals when requesting political asylum. And all Russians are subject to an accelerated procedure.
— What is an accelerated procedure and why is it bad?
— The case review should fit into 12 weeks - this is very fast. Accordingly, there is a big risk that such cases will not be considered so carefully, and the number of refusals will increase exponentially. This is what human rights activists are talking about. In addition to Russians, the accelerated procedure includes people who provided false information about themselves, people without documents and those who, according to preliminary screening, were considered a threat to national security.
Anti-fascist rally in Warsaw on July 21, 2025, protests against the tightening of the fight against migration
Aleksander Kalka / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP
— What kind of safe countries are these whose citizens are still undergoing an accelerated procedure?
“It’s easier to list the unsafe ones—that is, those whose citizens end up in the usual procedure. These are Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Yemen, Iran, Palestine, Sudan, Myanmar.
— Why is the approval rate among Russians so low? Who are these 82% of applicants who spoiled the statistics so much?
— It is important that the Pact talks about statistics of initial appeals. If people are initially refused and then approved on appeal, this is not taken into account. At the same time, in Germany, for example, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) tries to refuse everyone entry. The percentage of people who were immediately approved for political asylum dropped sharply last year - in 2023, Russians had 30% of initial approvals, and in 2025 - 7%.
— Is an appeal possible with an expedited filing?
— It is provided for by law, but technically it is almost impossible. Previously, you were given 30 days to appeal a refusal, but now the period has been reduced to seven days. For which a person must have time to receive a decision, find a lawyer, file an appeal, send it - people did not have time to do this even in 30 days. In general, all this will lead to the fact that a person must be ready to appeal and cross the border with a full package of all documents, evidence, confirmations, with a hired lawyer and surrounded by human rights activists. And only then will he have at least some chance of getting approval.
But we are still very concerned about the new concept of transit countries. If, after leaving Russia, you passed through safe countries, they will ask you why you didn’t stay there. Despite all the evidence of political persecution in Russia, they may answer you that, for example, Armenia, where you came from, is a safe country according to European protocols, which does not extradite you to Russia. Like Georgia, Serbia, and Türkiye. So go back now.
And if, according to the new rules, transit countries are taken into account, then virtually no Russian will be able to obtain political asylum in the EU - because it is impossible to fly here directly from Russia. And, unfortunately, we will only understand in practice how this entire restarted system will work. That is, we will have to train in public, and this is now also dangerous.
- Why is it dangerous?
— Because at the same time as the EU is tightening the rules for granting political asylum, it has become concerned about the problem of deportation. It is very difficult to deport a person: he could throw away his passport, he screams that they will kill him at home. Therefore, European bureaucrats decided to take this problem outside the EU. Special deportation centers in supposedly “safe countries” are now being actively discussed - on June 17, the European Parliament approved their creation. Now those who received refusals will be sent from border centers to special camps built in other countries. The list of countries that hit the press is now: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Rwanda and Uganda. And this is a rather terrible option for Russians, since extradition to Russia is in effect from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Now, according to European laws, a person can be deported either to his country of citizenship or to another country that agrees to accept him. To solve this problem, this whole tricky story with deportation centers was invented. People are sent there, and then someone else will decide what to do with them. The EU seems to have nothing to do with it. And, of course, the countries that host these centers will receive a lot of money from the EU.
- That is, it is practically human trafficking. How many Russians apply for political asylum in Europe?
— In 2025, there were 10,490 Russian citizens who requested political asylum in the EU, of which 3,140 applications were approved. In the peak year of 2022, there were approximately 17,000 applicants.
“We managed to fight off most of the people.”
— The fact that in Germany in the fall of 2025 they stopped issuing humanitarian visas, and in the spring of 2026 France stopped renewing APS, temporary residence permits that were issued to the majority of political emigrants - are these all “links of one fucking chain”?
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