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The Russia expert: There is no legal certainty anymore
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Irina Filatova, 28, protested outside the Russian embassy in Stockholm.
Now she risks being deported to Russia – where she is wanted and risks imprisonment.
– All I wish is to be free and not have to live in fear, she says.
- Irina Filatova, 28, born in Russia, risks being deported from Sweden. In her home country, she is wanted and risks up to 20 years in prison.
- Filatova received the deportation notice on the same day that she protested outside the Russian embassy in Stockholm – against the Russian election.
- The Russia expert Malcolm Dixelius does not believe that Sweden will enforce the deportation decision, and points to the lawless state in Russia.
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March 17 was the last day for the Russian election and protest actions were held outside the embassy in Stockholm.
On site was Irina Filatova28, who was born in Russia but who moved to Sweden as a 12-year-old.
She had her two children with her and a sign with the text “The election is not real” and “Putin is not my president”.
– It’s the least I can do. Because it is very personal for me and my family.
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fullscreen Irina Filatova protested outside the Russian embassy in Stockholm. Photo: Private
Notification of deportation – same day
Irina herself is of Ukrainian origin and she has many relatives who were hurt in the war.
But she also has relatives in Russia.
Four days after the election and the protests, there was a knock on the door at her grandmother’s house, who lives in the eastern parts of the country. It was the police who asked for Irina, who is now wanted in her home country, which she has only visited once since moving in 2008.
– I kind of expected it somehow. I knew about the risks of standing there and being caught in the picture, says Irina Filatova.
On the same day that the grandmother got the news, Irina also got another one – one that she had been dreading for a long time. The Swedish Migration Agency had rejected her asylum application.
– I laughed, but not because it’s funny. I risk up to 20 years in prison in Russia. I don’t know what to think, but hope lives on, says Irina Filatova.
Now she is trying to appeal the deportation decision to the Migration Court.
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fullscreen Irina Filatova with her two children outside the Russian Embassy. Photo: Private
The Russia expert: “There is no legal certainty”
Russia expert Malcolm Dixelius says he finds it hard to believe that Sweden will enforce the deportation order in Irina Filatova’s case.
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full screenMalcolm Dixelius. Photo: Archive – Talarforum
– I cannot imagine that in the current situation we would deport a person to Russia. It is a lawless society and people have received long prison sentences just for simple things, he says and continues:
– People have been sentenced just because they stood in line at a certain time on election Sunday, as Navalny urged people to do as a protest.
Malcolm Dixelius emphasizes that it is remarkable how Russia currently chooses to sentence citizens for various crimes.
– There is no legal certainty in the system anymore. If they want to set an example, they can clamp down with anything, he says.
“All I want is a normal life”
Irina Filatova, who lives a life together with her partner and two children, aged nine and seven, says that all she wants is to be able to live a safe life with her family.
– I don’t need anything, I have an apartment and a job that I arranged myself. I don’t need support, I just need to be allowed to stay, says Irina Filatova.
– All I wish for is a normal life and not having to live in fear, she says.
She does not want to think about what would happen if she were forced to go to Russia.
– There is nothing and no one to protect me there.
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full screen Irina Filatova lives with her partner and their two children. Photo: Private
