Canadas Crucial Role: Exiled Russian Dissidents Urge Asylum for Anti-War Activists Facing U.S. Deportation

A group of well-known exiled Russian opposition leaders has called on Canada to provide refuge to numerous anti-war activists who they claim are at risk of being deported from the United States back to Russia, where they could face arrest and imprisonment due to their political beliefs.

In a letter addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Aleksei Navalny, along with opposition figures Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin, urged Ottawa to grant asylum to Russians facing U.S. deportation orders, particularly those with well-documented anti-war activities.

As reported by the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail on Wednesday, the letter emphasizes that sending these individuals back to Russia “threatens to devastate the lives of many honorable and innocent people.”

Yashin informed the publication that approximately 1,000 Russians are currently pursuing political asylum in the United States. The authors of the letter are hopeful that Canada will be able to accept “a few hundred” of the most at-risk individuals.

At least one anti-Kremlin activist, Leonid Melekhin, was arrested in Russia on charges related to justifying terrorism through social media after initial reports indicated he had been deported by U.S. immigration officials. Melekhin’s court-appointed lawyer later asserted that he had returned voluntarily, possibly due to a lack of opportunity to reach the U.S. for refuge.

Yashin stated that the correspondence to Carney reflects increasing frustration among dissidents regarding the stringent immigration policies under the Trump administration.

“I’ve been to the U.S. twice, reaching out to various officials,” Yashin told The Globe and Mail. “The current administration in the White House simply doesn’t want to listen to us.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Canadian government had not publicly responded to the letter.

Kara-Murza, who was awarded honorary citizenship by Canada in June 2023 while imprisoned in Russia, intends to visit the country in October to discuss the proposed asylum initiative, according to Yashin.