Esko Repo: 15 percent of Russian political refugees in Finland are Chechen natives

The Finnish authorities will respond to petitions for political asylum in Finland submitted by former members of the folklore ensemble from Chechnya "Zhovkhar" (Pearl) and their companions not earlier than six months from now, Esko Repo, head of the Department for Refugees of the Authority on Foreigners' Matters of Finland, has stated.

Bislan Saraliev, ex-administrator of the "Zhovkhar," one of the Chechen applicants for asylum, told in his telephone interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent from Helsinki that in total six petitions for asylum were submitted to the police of Helsinki by him and his fellow countrymen, covering 17 persons (six families). "Six persons are the ensemble members: four girls and two guys," B. Saraliev explained.

He said that he "could not explain so far" the motives of the Chechen residents for asking political asylum in Finland, but, in his words, they are connected with the absence of safety for them in their homeland.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported, with reference to the MTV-3 Finnish Channel, that Mr Repo has stated: "If a person is reliably living in Chechnya, this satisfies the criterion of rendering the asylum, and the applicant is granted the asylum."

"Before the end of June this year, a total of 75 Russian citizens arrived to Finland and applied for granting political asylum. There are Chechens among them. Approximately, they make 15 percent - it is very difficult to tell precisely, as we do not run statistics by ethnical origin of those who apply for protection," Esko Repo informed the "Caucasian Knot." In his words, this year political asylum has already been granted to 19 Russians, there are Chechens among them.