Closing the Door: the challenge facing activists from the former Soviet Union seeking asylum or refuge examines how countries, particularly in Europe, are making it more difficult for activists and others from the former Soviet Union who are at risk of persecution to seek temporary refuge or secure asylum. The publication explores at the ways in which countries are increasingly sending those at risk back to their country of origin, sometimes misusing the concepts of ‘safe third countries’ and ‘Internal Protection Alternatives. It discusses the need for asylum systems to better respond to how regimes target the families of activists. Closing the door also looks at the strange case of ongoing Ukraine-Russia collaboration on extraditions, the expulsion of Crimean Tatars and other opponents by the Russians in occupied Crimea, the deteriorating situation for those seeking shelter in Russia and the continuing need for Interpol reform.

 The publication contains contributions from: Dr Leila Alieva, University of Oxford; Eugenia Andreyuk and Philipp Gliesche, Crimea SOS; Halya Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group; Dr Saipira Furstenberg , Dr John Heathershaw and Dr Edward Lemon, University of Exeter; Adam Hug, Foreign Policy Centre; Elena Kachanovich-Shlyk and Yan Matusevich, International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD); Daniil Kislov and Ernest Zhanaev, Ferganha News; Bruno Min, Fair Trials; Minos Mouzourakis and Claire Rimmer Quaid, European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE); Daria Trenina and Kiril Zharinov, MGIMO University. Kindly supported by the Open Society Foundations as part of the FPC’s Exporting Repression project.