Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of current asylum programs and policies in place for Russians.

The UK has a proud record of providing protection for people who need it, in accordance with our obligations under the Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

All asylum claims lodged from within the UK, including those from Russian nationals, are given full and careful consideration so we do not remove anyone who faces persecution or serious harm on return to their country of origin. Protection is normally granted where a claimant has a well-founded fear of persecution under the Refugee Convention or their circumstances engage our obligations under Article 3 ECHR.

We are monitoring the situation in Russia. Every asylum claim made is carefully considered on its individual merits by assessing all the evidence provided by the claimant against a background of country information from a wide range of credible sources, including the Foreign, Development and Commonwealth Office, the media and non-governmental sources, such as the UNHCR, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.