Germany has blocked the granting of humanitarian visas to the Russians and treats them as Afghans and Iranians
Russians from Germany, at a rally organized in Berlin on May 9, when Russia celebrates the “Victory Day” in World War II, photo: F Boillot / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia
Germany has suspended the granting of humanitarian visas for Russian and bielar citizens, despite public statements that support the opposite, writes Deutsche Welle, citing human rights.
According to them, the German authorities returned to the approach before the start of the large -scale invasion of Ukraine, when such visas were issued only in exceptional cases and based on criteria that humanitarian organizations say they were non -transparent and unclear.
The accelerated procedure for granting humanitarian visas had been introduced in May 2022, 3 months after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his invasion forces to Ukraine. According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) in Berlin, such visas could be requested by persons in danger due to their position against the war, their activity in the field of human rights or critics to the Russian authorities.
However, in May 2025, after the change of the German government, the reception programs were suspended, including those for humanitarian visas. In August, Germany's Foreign Ministry announced that restrictions will be raised, but stressed that the “accelerated procedure” for citizens of Belarus, Russia and Iran, introduced by previous governments, will no longer be applied.
“Formal, the reception window remains open, but without the accelerated mechanism. In fact, this means the closing of the program: the Russians could only apply through the quick procedure. Now it is only the cases of very well -known people – a few a year. In the meantime, the officials are pretending that the program is still working,” says the organization for human rights.
The reduction of the migration programs and the revision of the existing ones are provided in the coalition agreement of the new government of Germany, consisting of the Conservative CDU/CSU and Social Democrats from SPD. “We have the impression that CDU ignores us completely,” said an employee of a non -governmental organization for Deutsche Welle.
According to him, the consultations continue only with SPD, while the CDU/CSU representatives “seek any reason to refuse”. “It is an institutional sabotage mechanism,” said the interlocutor quoted by DW.
The Russians are told that Kazakhstan and Karzstan are “safe countries”
Defenders of human rights also state that the Russians who left the country due to criminal files have been suggested, in some cases, to submit the visa application to the German Embassy in Moscow. In other situations, the Foreign Ministry responds that Armenia, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan are “safe countries” and refuses the request.
“People have been stuck in transit countries where they are not safe. Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan and Kazakhstan extradit in Russia. In Turkey there was also an extradition attempt. In Armenia, through the OTSC (the organization of the collective security treaty), there are only a search for people. underlines human rights organizations.
However, the defenders of human rights recognize that the return to the previous level of granting the humanitarian visas is unlikely.
“We can only try to increase the number of cases-from three to four to ten to two. According to jurists, the German authorities analyze humanitarian visas for Russians and bielaruși together with similar programs for Afghanistan, Syria and Iran.
Against the background of the massive refugee flows, no one in the German government intends to pay separate attention to the Russian and Belaruse direction, according to DW.
