Germany is facilitating the expulsion of more individuals to Russia
Germany has increased its expulsions to Russia once more, as disclosed by the Federal Ministry of the Interior following an inquiry. Some 32 Russian nationals were expelled to their homeland between January and August of this year, in contrast to just seven in the preceding year. Previous studies conducted by WDR and NDR had brought this trend to light.
Deportations to Russia had mostly halted after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, chiefly due to the deterioration of interstate relations and the absence of direct flights from Germany to Russia. It wasn't until the start of last year that Bavaria managed to expel two individuals to Russia after a significant hiatus. However, due to the lack of direct flights, these individuals were first sent to Serbia and then onwards to Moscow.
The Interior Ministry disclosed to the Left party as early as March of this year, in response to a parliamentary inquiry, that a total of ten Russian citizens had been deported to their homeland between February 24, 2022, and January 31, 2023. In contrast, before the Russian invasion in 2021, there had been a grand total of 280 expulsions to Russia.
The initial halt in deportations to Russia occurred in January following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Despite the absence of direct flights, Germany managed to expel several Russian nationals back to their homeland starting from January of last year.
