Ukraine's border guards deport refugees

After Russian forces began offensive operations in February much of the work of the state in Ukraine was put on hold as the country shifted to a war footing. And that included the bureaucratic processing of foreigners. Many people who had applied for residency or asylum and had been waiting in limbo for years had even more obstacles. In recent months much of the Ukrainian state services have started to resume normal operating procedures, and this has meant that for many people living in the country they now face harassment and deportation by its border and migration services.

Deportation and forcible detention are shocking and violent everywhere they're used, but with the added traumas and dangers of open conflict and the added insult that many of those targeted had supported Ukraine in its defence efforts either through going the Territorial Defence units or volunteering, it seems like the Ukrainian government is saying thanks for the help, now get out. 

I've seen reports that Belarusians are being targeted because the system for their entry into Ukraine required frequent renewal but the process to renew was frozen during the invasion. And recently I've just learnt that Ilshat Sharafullin a Tartar nationalist who advocates for an independent Tartarstan who had requested asylum in Ukraine in 2020. During the invasion he joined a defence unit for Kyiv and had been trying to join the Ukrainian armed forces when he was detained by the Ukrainian Security Service which has attempted to deport him to Moldova, though the Moldovan border guard refused to accept him, so he is currently stuck on the border between the two countries.

From the website of the Free Idel-Ural Movement

"Free Idel-Ural" learned that on September 6, the Security Service of Ukraine will deport Tatar nationalist Ilshat Sharafullin, who publicly advocates Tatarstan's exit from the Russian Federation, to Moldova.

Sharafullin from the city of Yar Challa, Republic of Tatarstan. He is 47 years old. In 2020, he illegally crossed the border with Ukraine and asked for political asylum. He lived in Sumy for a year and a half and was waiting for a decision on his status. Later he moved to Odessa.

On February 26, two days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he arrived in Kyiv and joined the ranks of the Territorial Defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, wanting to take part in the battles against the Russians.

In recent weeks, Ilshat has been trying to sign up for a contract with the Armed Forces, he has been living with one of our colleagues in Kyiv. On Friday, September 2, he stopped communicating, and on Tuesday evening he sent a message that he was detained by the SBU and taken to the border with Moldova, where they tried to deport him, but the Moldovan border guards refused to let him into Moldova. Now Ilshat is in the neutral lane, he does not know at which border crossing point he is. Moldova does not let him in and Ukraine does not take him back.

The deportation of Ilshat Sharafullin will inevitably result in his extradition to the FSB of the Russian Federation by Moldovan law enforcement officers. The SBU understands this, so it did not hand over the Tatar nationalist directly to the FSB. What awaits in the Russian Federation a person who openly advocates the independence of Tatarstan and joined the Territorial Defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is probably clear to everyone.

UPDATE . 21:00: Ilshat reported that he is at the Mamalyga border crossing point in Chernivtsi region. He was detained by the Lviv Department of the SBU and is trying to forcefully deport him to the territory of Moldova.

This isn't exceptional, Ukraine is doing what every country including the UK is. It finds certain kinds of people to be a burden and so opts to get rid of them, that this often puts these people at extreme risk of discrimination, persecution and even death just isn't something they care about. Currently the war is going very badly for the Russian Federation and Ukraine is rebuilding in many parts of the country, and this includes the Ukrainian government getting back to legislating and administering the country and its population. Unless opposition to polices like the Migration Services increase then more and more people who went to Ukraine seeking sanctuary will find themselves either at a border post or forced to live in the country illegally. 

An old socialist wisdom goes "the worker has no homeland" it is also just as true that the powerless have no genuine friends amongst the powerful, only alliances of convenience. 

In the UK the offensively cruel Rwanda flights were defeated by the actions of committed protesters who delayed the flights long enough to get each person a legal team to lodge injunctions, and in the process gave researchers time to publish the financial costs and the pain and injury inflicted on the detainees. And resistance to border force raids have grown and are slowly spreading. Solidarity when it goes beyond words is a powerful weapon.