Vladislav Krasnov, right, who helped organize protests in Moscow in support of Alexey Navalny, lost his asylum appeal in the U.S. and fears deportation back to Russia if Canada doesn’t intervene.Supplied
A Russian opponent of President Vladimir Putin has been detained in the United States and fears he will be deported back to Russia any day now.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been holding Vladislav Krasnov since he appeared last week for a scheduled check-in at an ICE office in downtown Los Angeles. Mr. Krasnov had been previously denied asylum in the U.S. and was required to check in with authorities.
The 27-year-old said in an interview Tuesday from the Adelanto detention complex that ICE agents told him he will be on a flight sometime next week.
“I’m afraid a little bit but I hope that everything will be fine because we already filed a motion to reopen, and they should stop my deportation process because I have a lot of evidence and I think it’s a really strong case,” he said.
Mr. Krasnov said he participated in massive protests against Mr. Putin in 2018 and has been outspoken about the Russian government and its war against Ukraine. He said that if he were deported to Russia, he could be imprisoned for 20 years. “Just for my words, for my opinion,” he said.
His lawyer said there is also a real fear that he could be sent to fight in Ukraine.
Yulia Navalnaya – Alexey Navalny’s widow – and other prominent Russian dissidents wrote a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney last year requesting that Canada grant asylum to dissidents in the U.S. who face deportation.RALF HIRSCHBERGER/Getty Images
He entered the U.S. legally in August, 2023, from Mexico. He used the CPB One app of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to secure an appointment at the border to apply for asylum. The app was launched by former U.S. President Joe Biden but scrapped by the Trump administration.
When Mr. Krasnov arrived at the border, he was detained and eventually brought to a detention centre in Louisiana, where he was held for 444 days. A judge rejected his case after casting doubt on the possibility that he would face persecution in Russia.
Mr. Krasnov was released but is expecting to be deported. He told The Globe and Mail in September that there was a strong possibility he would be on one of the deportation flights to Russia unless Canada helped him.
Around the same time, The Globe reported that prominent Russian dissidents Yulia Navalnaya – Alexey Navalny’s widow – Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin wrote a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney requesting that Canada grant asylum to Russian dissidents in the United States who face deportation to Russia. (They did not specifically mention Mr. Krasnov.)
Rémi Larivière, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, said the department is unable to comment on individual cases, but asylum claims made at the land border by non-U.S. citizens coming from the U.S. are subject to the Safe Third Country Agreement unless they qualify for an exception or exemption. That means someone like Mr. Krasnov would be returned to the U.S.
Opinion: Canada should support Russian dissidents in their time of need
But Mr. Krasnov’s lawyer, Wallie Mason, said she has new evidence to support her client’s case. She also said he has had several bad attorneys, including one who was disbarred.
Ms. Mason said Tuesday that she has filed a motion to reopen the case and a motion that would grant Mr. Krasnov emergency protection and prevent his deportation while the board reviews his case. She said they’re anxiously waiting to see if the motion to stay his case will be granted.
After Mr. Krasnov’s detention last week, Ms. Mason issued a statement regarding the new evidence she said will help his case. It says that since the previous decision, the European Court of Human Rights has issued a decision finding that Mr. Krasnov’s previous detention in Russia was unlawful and politically motivated.
She said he is named as a victim of human-rights violations, which could prompt retaliation by Russian officials, and added that international media attention has brought attention to his case, including his criticism of Mr. Putin.
Dmitry Valuev, co-founder of the Russian America for Democracy in Russia, said that if Mr. Krasnov is deported to Russia he will most likely be arrested. Mr. Valuev said his non-profit organization monitors deportation flights to Russia and has found that arriving deportees are interrogated by Russia’s security service. “In many cases we see that Russian security knows about people’s activities,” he said.
He said his organization met with the Canadian embassy in Washington last year to advocate for Russian asylum seekers. He said they would like to meet with Canadian officials again because this issue isn’t going away.
“If Canada can step in and make this determination about their fate, that will be a great help – not just for those individuals but for the pro-democracy Russian community around the globe, because we’ve been ostracized, honestly. We’ve been targeted by our own government in Russia, and it’s very difficult for pro-democracy Russians to find safety anywhere else.”
Mr. Krasnov said that if the U.S. government denies his case, he hopes Canada will accept him. But he’s still hopeful that everything will work out.
In a statement, he said he’s not asking for special treatment. “I came to the U.S. seeking freedom and safety. I am asking for time and a fair review of new evidence that shows I would face serious danger if deported.”