Photo credit: RNZ
A Crimean man who feared being conscripted to fight by Ukraine has been given refugee status in New Zealand.
RNZ reports that the man arrived in New Zealand 28 years ago after jumping ship and sailing. His first asylum application was rejected in 2006, but he remained in the country.
Aged 50, he speaks only Russian and considers himself Russian. However, he’s classed as a Ukrainian. He was concerned he would be forced to fight against his own people if he returned to Crimea to get a Russian passport.
In its decision, the tribunal said, “He is aggrieved that decisions were taken which has meant that he had been given Ukrainian nationality and not Russian nationality upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
“If conscripted again into the Ukrainian army, (he) would regard himself as being compelled to fight against his own kind, which he does not want to do… the appellant does not want to kill people. he would, however, take up arms to defend his homeland and his family against any invasion by Ukrainian forces of Sevasstopol.”
The immigration and protection tribunal said his journey home would be fraught with danger. As someone who had been in New Zealand since 2000, he had no experience of the war, or drone or missile attacks and would be likely to suffer psychological harms if he returned there.
“More broadly, the appellant’s right to an adequate standard of living will be adversely impacted on an ongoing basis. He will struggle to find employment. Some degree of discrimination against him as an ethnic Russian who cannot speak the Ukrainian language is to be expected in the circumstances should he seek casual work.”He will struggle to establish himself. He only has a cousin in Kyiv, but otherwise no support available to him in the government-controlled areas.”
