There are no specific statistics on LGBTQ+ refugees applying for asylum in the EU from Russia. However, even before the EU’s new law on migration and asylum comes into force in June 2026, the take-up rate remains very low. According to Novaya Gazeta Europe, Of the 8,000 asylum claims made by Russian refugees in 2024, Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) granted Just 414, 3,652 were rejected and another 4,000 were withheld pending the provision of more information, a 19 percent decrease from 2023.
Russia has passed three laws aimed at curtailing the rights of queer people. In 2022, it is expand 2013 law bans “LGBT propaganda”; It became illegal to talk about queer people in public (the first iteration of the law noted banning LGBTQ+ propaganda to children). The very next year, Russian lawmakers Prohibited gender reassignment, Exclusion of trans people from medical care. At this time experts warned about this will lead to an increase in suicides; Support groups reported a sharp increase in requests for psychological, legal and practical help.
Finally, at the beginning of 2024, the non-existent “international LGBT movement” was recognized An extremist organization In Russia, it is no longer safe for queer people to live openly in the country. Step effectively LGBTQ+ rights work at risk of criminal prosecution. The first criminal case for “LGBT extremism” is currently underway Heard in Orenburg: Several face up to ten years in prison for working in local gay clubs. Many activists Forced to leave RussiaFearing charges that could carry lengthy jail terms.
Now, new The Pact on Migration and Asylum, a set of rules changing the rules for asylum seekers across Europe, aims to to confirm That further cases are handled directly at external borders and airports, before people are admitted to EU territory. It will allow faster refusals and returns and tighten controls on movement within the European Union. For human rights defenders, this means that protecting people will become significantly more difficult, as applicants will be confined to border areas.
In addition, the regulations introduce the concept of so-called “safe third countries”, meaning states outside the European Union through which an asylum seeker entered the Union and where they could apply for international protection. In other words, if a migrant could seek asylum in such a country, EU member states could refuse to examine the application and send the person back to that country. The list of so-called “safe” countries, which includes Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco and Tunisia, has already been approved by parliament. Countries that are candidates for accession to the European Union, such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine, are usually included subject to some exceptions (such as for armed conflict).
However, there is a provision for EU countries to draw up lists of safe third countries that take into account other criteria such as bilateral agreements. Such bilateral agreements currently exist with Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. A Lawyer working with NGO SK SOSwhich helps LGBTQ+ people flee North Caucasus countries, says the law’s main risk lies in its as-yet-unannounced list of “safe third countries”. If Russian citizens pass through these countries, they may be put through an expedited review process and even denied refugee status.
It will therefore become more difficult for applicants to enter EU countries and apply for international protection there. Accelerated review timelines also mean faster early-stage rejections, which are likely to occur more frequently. The same lawyers insist that asylum seekers cannot be considered safe with reliable evidence of persecution in their home country and a clear explanation of the “third country” through which they entered.
Stephen Phillips, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Human Rights at Abo Akademi University in Finland, told Global Voices in an email interview with Global Voices that because Russia is not on the EU’s main list of safe countries, Russian applicants continue to receive a separate assessment. However, Russia is now subject to new rules allowing an accelerated procedure for asylum applications from countries with an EU-wide protection acceptance rate of 20 percent or less.
“The fast processing and border process can make it difficult to prepare a case,” he explains, but that doesn’t mean automatic rejection. A greater risk is that vulnerable applicants may find it more difficult to present complex claims. There may not be an opportunity to provide additional arguments and evidence, and the quality of decision-making with expedited asylum processes may suffer.” Phillips added that an important consideration is that EU asylum law has for many years recognized persecution based on sexual orientation, gender identity and membership of a particular social group. Russia has widely documented anti-LGBTQ+ laws and persecution, which he says “remain highly relevant in assessing an individual asylum claim.”
While the legal basis on which LGBTQ+ Russians can qualify for asylum remains unchanged, Phillips notes that “the quality of evidence, legal representation, and the ability to effectively present a claim may become more important under the accelerated procedure.”
Even if some countries make it onto so-called “safe third country” lists, LGBTQ+ refugees may not find them safe. Kazakhstan, for example, accepted Anti-LGBTQ+ “Propaganda” Laws in 2025; Article 120 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan commit a crime Male homosexual behavior. In Georgia, a law from 2024 Restricts LGBTQ+ expression, assembly, family recognition, gender-affirming care, and public portrayal, and in ArmeniaThere are records of harassment, threats, family pressure, intimate video dissemination and institutional hostility.
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Previously published with globalvoices.org Creative Commons License
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