Not a Ukrainian - not a refugee? A Russian who seeks asylum is not allowed to enter Bulgaria

Ivan Zubov

Bulgarian human rights activists have spread information that the Bulgarian border control office in Malko Tarnovo, located on the border with Turkey, is refusing to accept an asylum request from a Russian refugee who is under threat of persecution and military mobilization in Russia. Border guards say they do not accept asylum requests from Russians, only from Ukrainians.

Meanwhile, the Russian, who is now at the border control station, wrote a statement stating:

“I am a Russian citizen Andrey Mikhailovich Karpov. In Moscow, on March 28, 2021, I was detained by police officers for holding a solitary picket and taken to the police station, where I was beaten by police officers and received a summons to appear in court. On April 13, 2021, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow found me guilty and fined me. On 07/04/2021, the police officers took me from my house and placed me in a cell without any charges. The next day, I was taken to court, but the judge said that the paperwork was incorrect, and the police fined me for a violation that I did not commit. On July 10, 2021, I was again detained and taken for interrogation to the head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate Andrei Viktorovich and the head of the department for countering extremism in the Bryansk region, whose name I do not remember. During the interrogation, I was beaten and put in a cell. On July 13, 2021, I was taken to court, where I was sentenced to two days of arrest for disobeying police officers. After that, I left the country and returned only in the spring of 2022.

On October 24, 2022, I was handed a summons to the police on October 28. 2022. When I arrived, they told me that a case had been opened against me for discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation. I was also told that pre-investigation checks were being carried out in order to hold me accountable for donations to ... (an organization recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) and my posts on the Internet. The person who was introduced to me as an employee of Center E suggested that I go as a volunteer to the territory of Ukraine to participate in hostilities. They also gave me time to think and warned me that if I refused, they would definitely put me in jail. I was forced to leave the country and went to Turkey with the intention of seeking political asylum at the border crossing in Bulgaria. I managed to take some documents with me, these are protocols, court decisions, certificates of beatings…”

PS

According to the latest reports received from Bulgarian human rights activists, Andrei Karpov was allowed to go to the border post and was told that they were going to call a representative of the migration service. In all likelihood, his asylum application will still be considered.