In Russia, many Kremlin critics who have fled to Bulgaria often find that they are not welcome.

SOFIA - Amid the hustle and bustle of daily life, Andrei Karpov and Irina Dmitrieva, two Russian critics of the Kremlin whose asylum requests have been rejected by Bulgaria, stood silently in front of government offices in Sofia a week ago, holding a placard reading "State Agency for Refugees against Russian refugees." The message resonated with many Russians seeking asylum here, who have mostly failed to convince bureaucrats at Bulgaria's State Agency for Refugees (SAR) that their cases warrant such a decision.

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the total number of Russian citizens who have applied for asylum in Bulgaria has totaled 232, but only 15 of them have been granted refugee or humanitarian status, according to GAD data provided to Radio Liberty Bulgarian Service.

The reason? The agency argues that in most cases applicants will not face a risk of prosecution in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin has further tightened controls since the war began, shutting down virtually all independent media, NGOs and any other remnants of civil society, while the State Duma, the country's largely subordinate parliamentary lower house, has passed extensive censorship laws.

"We can never be safe at home after leaving a country where our hatred for Putin, his policies, his war was known to the authorities," Dmitrieva told Radio Liberty. "GAD pretends that there is no repression in Russia, no persecution of opponents of the regime, while thousands of Russians are in prison for statements less serious than ours."

GAD was not convinced by the three days that Karpov and Dmitrieva spent in front of the Council of Ministers, which oversees the refugee agency. GAD accused the two of trying to pressure "the agency to grant international protection to every Russian citizen who requests it, even those who do not meet the conditions," according to comments provided to Radio Liberty.

Attitude towards Russian refugees in Bulgaria

While many are afraid to speak in public, some refugee advocates suggest that the attitudes of some GAD officials may reflect a general positive view of Russia that still exists in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria, a member of the EU and NATO, has strong cultural, historical and linguistic ties with Russia, although the Kremlin's war against Ukraine has caused serious cracks in that support.

Mass exodus of Russians

While exact numbers are difficult to ascertain, hundreds of thousands of Russians are believed to have left Russia, especially after Moscow announced a partial military mobilization on September 21, 2022. Georgia and Kazakhstan, former Soviet republics that offer visa-free entry to Russians, have become popular destinations.

The European Union noticed a surge in arrivals after the mobilization announcement. Between Sept. 19 and Sept. 25, 2022, about 66,000 Russian citizens entered the EU. The following week, the number dropped to 53,000, said Frontex, the EU's border protection agency. The agency cited stricter EU visa policies and Russia's measures to prevent the departure of able-bodied men as possible reasons for the drop in numbers. Most Russians entering the EU already had residence permits or visas, while others held dual citizenship, Frontex said.

According to Eurostat, Russian citizens filed 18,400 asylum applications in European countries in 2022, with Germany (3,855), France (3,350) and Poland (2,215) being the most popular destinations.

Obtaining asylum in Bulgaria

An asylum application is not the only way for Russians to obtain a residence permit in Bulgaria. It can be granted if the applicant opens a business or represents a company. However, this usually requires significant financial resources or the presence of investments or real estate in Bulgaria.

The story of Karpov and Dmitrieva

According to Karpov, problems in his home country started on March21,2021, when he held a solitary picket in front of the Kremlin on Red Square in Moscow (under Russian law, a protester has the right to hold a solitary picket without prior notification to the authorities). Karpov held a sign saying, "No to repression!

Besides engaging in solitary protests, Karpov also came under the scrutiny of the Russian authorities for contributing to Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was declared "extremist" by the Russian government in June2021. Navalny was sentenced to19 years in prison on charges that supporters and the West consider politically motivated.

With Russia's increasing pressure on the opposition in connection with aggression against Ukraine, Karpov once again came into the spotlight of the authorities. And he wasn't alone. According to the Russian human rights monitoring center "OVD-Info", from February to July2022, over16,000 Russians were arrested for anti-war activities, reaching a peak that has since declined.

Karpova was accused of "discrediting" the Russian army on social media, which is a criminal offense in Russia punishable by up to five years in prison.

According to Karpov, the police offered him a deal: the criminal prosecution against him would be dropped if he agreed to sign a contract for military service in Ukraine. To buy some time, Karpov said he had lost his military ID and would only be able to get a replacement in a week.

It worked, and Karpov left his hometown of Trubchevsk, which is located on the border with Ukraine, and flew to Istanbul, then drove to the border with Bulgaria. At the Malko Tarnovo border crossing with Turkey on November 9, 2022, Karpov applied for political asylum in Bulgaria. Karpov remained in a state of limbo for several days until his documents were accepted by the State Agency for Refugees for consideration on November 13, 2022.

Then Karpov was transferred to a refugee camp in Sofia. It was only in February of this year that Karpov was interviewed by the GAD, and seven months later, in August, Karpov received the sad news: his request for asylum had been denied.

At first, the GAD accused him of not providing the correct documents to confirm his refugee status, although Karpov claimed that he had submitted the necessary documents and had copies to prove it.

However, later the GAD provided a more specific reason, concluding that Karpov would not face "grounds for well-founded fears of persecution" if he returned to Russia, noting that the situation there "cannot be classified as an armed conflict," according to an official document seen by Radio Free Europe, explaining the reasons for the denial of humanitarian status. If someone does not meet the criteria for refugee status but is believed to face a lethal threat upon returning to their homeland, they may be offered humanitarian status.

Dmitrieva arrived in Bulgaria in March 2022 with her 13-year-old daughter. Originally from Moscow, Dmitrieva says she is a veteran of anti-Putin demonstrations back home even before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Dmitrieva applied for asylum in the GAD on March 31, 2022, but her request was denied six months later, on September 21, 2022.

“When my daughter turned 14, she had a separate interview at the immigration office, and she was issued a separate document for asylum applicants. I was truly surprised not only by the fact that I was denied, but also that she was denied. We then had to appeal the denial in two courts. The situation is absurd,” she said.

According to the GAD, "the personal history of refugee Dmitrieva shows that she has no well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, ethnic, political, or social origin, and that there is no persecution against her, and the conditions for granting humanitarian status do not exist."