Finland denies asylum to Russian opposition activist Mikhail Lunkovsky

Finland has denied asylum to Russian opposition activist Mikhail Lunkovsky

He now faces the threat of being returned to Russia, said Svetlana Utkina, a former municipal deputy in St. Petersburg.

According to her, Finland’s immigration service found credible the information about Mikhail Lunkovsky’s years of political activity, repeated detentions, and police violence, but concluded that this was insufficient to establish a risk of persecution if he returned to Russia. A court upheld the immigration service’s denial.

🔵Mikhail Lunkovsky took part in many protest actions against the policies of the Russian authorities and was repeatedly detained by police, Utkina said. In February 2022, he publicly opposed the war in Ukraine, left Russia with his wife, a Ukrainian citizen, and ended up in Romania, where he applied for asylum. Romanian authorities applied the EU’s Dublin Regulation, under which consideration of his application was transferred to Finland because Finland had previously issued him a Schengen visa. In 2023, Mikhail was forcibly sent to Finland, while his wife remained in Romania.

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