13:13, 21 March 2014

UN: in 2013, count of refugees from Russia went up by 76%, mainly from Chechnya

Residents of Grosny, Chechnya. March 2014. Photo provided by eyewitness.

In 2013, about 40,000 Russians applied for asylum in industrialized countries. This numbers is 76% more than last year. This was reported by the department of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In 2012, Russia was ranked sixth by the number of refugees. In 2013, the Russian Federation has moved in this ranking to the second place, after Syria. According to the UNHCR, over the past year, 39,779 persons filed applications for asylum in other countries, The Associated Press quotes the UNHCR's report.

"There are indications that most of them are from Chechnya," the "Interfax" quotes Volker Türk, Director of the UNHCR Department of International Protection, as stating.

Volker Türk has also emphasized that when seeking asylum, Russian citizens are increasingly motivated by the desire to reunite with their family members who earlier migrated to Europe (according to the UNHCR's report, Germany and Poland are the countries that are most popular among Russians), while the Syrians flee violence and persecution, Reuters quotes Volker Türk as stating.