In 1993, #Russia ratified the 1951 #Geneva Convention and the 1967 New York Protocol relating to the Status of #Refugees. Under these rules, Russia can grant #asylumseekers seekers permanent refugee status or temporary #asylum.
#Migration legislation dates back to the 1990s and distinguishes three types of protection. The first relates to political asylum, introduced by a Presidential Decree of 1997. It is reserved for those who have suffered direct and personal persecution. The President of the Republic grants political asylum. In the last 20 years, only 15 people have been granted this form of protection.
The second is refugee status under the 1951 Geneva Convention. The law operates from a point of that a refugee is someone who has a well-founded fear of persecution, not only for political but also racial, religious, ethnic and other reasons. This is similar to what is practiced in any other country which is part of this convention. The decision on refugee status is taken by the Russian Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for collecting applications and examining them.
The third type is temporary asylum. According to Article 12 of the Federal Law on Refugees, temporary asylum permits #foreign nationals to reside temporarily in the territory of the Russian Federation. It is granted by the Ministry of the Interior ("MOI") . Every year there are about 2,000 applications, just over a hundred of these are actually approved.
According to Article 4.1(3), an asylum seeker who enters the Russian Federation illegally must file an application MOI within 24 hours. Even though the 24-hour limit can be relaxed, Article 5.1(7) states that a violation can serve as the basis for denial of a substantive evaluation of an applicant's claim.
Article 2.2 excludes asylum seekers who have fled their country of origin for "economic reasons due to #hunger, epidemic, or natural or man-made emergencies
Article 5 of the Law stipulates the principle of safe third country meaning in a case where an asylum seeker arrived in Russia from a country where he could have claimed asylum.