No more German visas for Kremlin critics fleeing Russia?

Some 300 Russians and Belarussians may be prevented from obtaining visas for Germany after Berlin suspended its humanitarian visa programs at the end of July, according to the Ark project (Kovcheg).

Founded in March 2022, The Ark supports Russians fleeing persecution by the Russian authorities, in particular opponents of Russia's war against Ukraine.

In all these cases, visas had already been approved by the German Foreign Office — but the Ministry of the Interior has stopped them from being issued.

Sent to an orphanage for an anti-war drawing
One of those affected is Alexei Moskalev, a Russian man who was persecuted in his homeland because of a drawing his young daughter did in school. The drawing showed Russia firing rockets at Ukraine, with a mother standing in front of a child, holding up a hand to ward them off.

Masha Moskaleva from the Russian region of Tula was 13 years old when she did the drawing in an art class in the spring of 2022, not long after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The drawing was seized on by the international media after the Russian authorities took an interest in it.

According to the girl's father, Alexei Moskalev, the school administration reported the drawing to the police, and Masha was interviewed by members of Russia's domestic intelligence service, the FSB.

In 2023, Moskalev was sentenced to two years in prison. The court found him guilty of discrediting the army in anti-war comments he was said to have made on a Russian social network, Odnoklassniki. State authorities sent his daughter Masha to an orphanage before later handing her over to her mother, who had been estranged from the family for several years.

Moskalev left Russia after his release from prison in October 2024, as he was in danger of being arrested again. "When I was in prison, in Vladimir Putin's dungeons, FSB officers came to see me twice," he says. "They always stressed, at the end of our conversation, 'We're not going to leave you alone, even after you're released.'"

Many former Soviet countries not safe
Anton K. (name changed for security reasons) left Russia at the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Back home, the former activist and journalist worked with publications branded "foreign agents" by the authorities. Today, he works for an online medium whose editor-in-chief is in custody, accused of inciting terrorism.

Anton K. also took part in anti-Kremlin protests, and was arrested many times in consequence. Russia's "Center for Combating Extremism" took his fingerprints so that, if necessary, it could find him more easily.

Like Alexei Moskalev, Anton K. is also currently in one of the CIS states. The Commonwealth of Independent States is an organization of Soviet Union successor states, and in addition to Russia it consists of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Lawyer Anastasia Burakova is the founder of Kovcheg, the Ark Project that supports Russian dissidents abroad. She told DW that it was dangerous for opponents of the regime to stay in these countries long-term. "There's always the risk of an extradition request from Russia if a person is wanted in a politically motivated case," Burakova says.

"There are abduction attempts, like those we've seen in Armenia, but there are also successful abductions, as in Kyrgyzstan; those people ended up in Russian prisons."

Humanitarian visa can save people from persecution
Anton K. and Alexei Moskalev were very aware of these risks, so they applied for humanitarian visas for Germany, along with some 300 other Russians and Belarusians. German authorities can issue this visa to independent journalists, activists, and politicians who are persecuted in their home countries.

According to The Ark, around 2,600 people from Russia have been granted these visas for Germany in the past three-and-a-half years of the war. "More than 2,600 people have been given the chance to come to a safe place, to evade a Russian prison sentence, torture, and persecution for their civil society activism and their opposition to the war," Anastasia Burakova stresses.

Visas not issued, despite approval
At the end of July this year, Germany's Ministry of the Interior announced that it was suspending the humanitarian visa program. The reason given was the coalition contract between the governing parties, the CDU/CSU and the SPD, which refers to a toughening of migration policy.

Anton K.'s visa was almost in the bag. At the beginning of July, he was invited to present his passport at the German embassy in order to receive the visa. However, at this point the procedure was broken off. Anton's passport is still at the embassy.

Alexei Moskalev had a similar experience. He says the German Foreign Office had already approved his visa, but because of the new government's decision, he hasn't received it. It has been more than six months since he submitted the required documents.

Interior ministry cites ongoing review of procedures
The German Ministry of the Interior told DW that the governing parties' coalition agreement included the intention to "terminate voluntary federal admission programs as far as possible," and said they were currently examining how this could be implemented with regard to the various programs.

"We cannot preempt the outcome of this review," it stated. "Until a decision is made, procedures for the admission of persons in order to safeguard the political interests of the Federal Republic of Germany under Section 22, Paragraph 2 of the Residence Act are also generally suspended, meaning that, in principle, new admissions will not be declared nor visas issued, except in urgent cases." The ministry added that exceptions could be made "in particularly special individual cases."

Anastasia Burakova hopes that this wording means that it will indeed make exceptions. It will become clear in practice what exactly the German authorities regard as "urgent cases," she says.

In August of this year, there were 1,043 people categorized by the Russian human rights organization Memorial as political prisoners in Russia. According to the independent Russian news portal The Bell, which operates outside the country, around 700,000 people have left Russia since the start of its all-out war against Ukraine.