Russian journalist Alexander Kosvintsev has been told that he is to receive refugee status

The journalist was informed of this in Lviv. “The question of whether to grant refugee status has been decided in my favour.  I heard all that I was supposed to be told on 25 February today. At present the process is underway of formalizing the refugee status. I have handed in my Russian passport, and have been given papers to say that refugee status is being organized”, Alexander Kosvintsev informed reporters on 22 February.

As already reported,  Kosvintsev, regional correspondent for the newspaper “Novaya gazeta”* in the Kemerovsk region (Russian Federation) asked for political asylum in Ukraine on 6 February.

Russian journalist Alexander Kosvintsev, who has asked for political asylum in Ukraine, may receive ordinary refugee status, although admittedly with the wording “for political convictions”. This is since Ukrainian legislation does not have the status “political refugee”.

The Head of the Lviv Regional Council Myroslav Senyk stated this after a meeting with the journalist. The decision of the Migration Service in Kosvintsev’s case is to be announced on 25 February. According to the Russian, he consciously chose Ukraine as he believes it to be a democratic country. He hopes to bring his family who have remained in Russia.

Myroslav Senyk: “We don’t see any politics in this and I would not at all wish to think that such actions would influence relations between Ukraine and Russia. I would rather say that on the contrary, if a Russian national can receive protection when he needs this in Ukraine that demonstrates that we are not indifferent to the fate of Russians and to the problems in Russia. And this should not reflect on our relations”.

Alexander Kosvintsev: “What prompted me to accelerate the application was that an officer of an enforcement body phoned. He spoke politely, of course, they’re always polite, but it was in essence a threat.  And the threat was in saying “let him turn up like a good man, otherwise we will apply overt and covert methods of search”.