Germany is deporting more and more Russian citizens back to Russia, even though there is not a single direct flight between the two countries. The number of deportations could increase if the courts and authorities consider a ruling by the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg as a precedent.

The court found that young Russian men called up for basic military service faced virtually no risk of being sent to fight in Russia's war in Ukraine, and instead were likely to be deployed to patrol the borders with Ukraine or at the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula. Thus, it argued, there was no reason to grant these Russians asylum in Germany as being called up for military service alone did not provide sufficient grounds for protection.

Though this ruling dates from August, the media have only just been made aware of it. Research on this case is a co-production between DW and the German news outlet Tagesschau.de.

Individual lawsuit leads to landmark ruling

What began as an individual lawsuit against being deported to Russia has led to a landmark ruling that could dash the hopes of hundreds of Russian conscientious objectors trying to obtain asylum in Germany.

The plaintiff in question was neither a conscientious objector nor a deserter, but a 22-year-old Russian national of Chechen descent. He had come to Germany at the age of 10 with his family. They were not granted asylum, but issued a temporary leave to remain.

The young man turned to crime and became known to authorities as a repeat offender. While serving a sentence of two years and nine months in prison, he beat up a fellow inmate and was fined. In spring 2023, the immigration authorities informed him that he had to leave the country.

However, he refused and went to court. One of his key arguments was that he would be drafted and sent to fight in Ukraine if he returned to Russia.

The court dismissed the case and listed its reasons in a 16-page document. The section on recruitment in Russia is based on dozens of sources, including reports from government agencies and nongovernmental organizations as well as publications in European and Russian media outlets. The court analyzed Russia's system of military recruitment as well as the odds of young men doing military service being sent to the front.

The judges came to the conclusion that men doing military service were rarely sent to Ukraine. They found that there was an exception regarding "volunteer battalions" with men from Chechnya, but pointed out that the plaintiff was free to settle wherever he wanted in Russia.

Russian recruits coerced into fighting in Ukraine

Mersad Smajic, a lawyer who represents the original Russian plaintiff, said the court's ruling had set a precedent because the judges' justification went beyond the specific case. He pointed out that the Halle Administrative Court in eastern Germany's Saxony-Anhalt state had already "made full reference to the ruling" by the Berlin court.

This was confirmed by Rudi Friedrich, the head of Connection, an organization that provides supports to conscientious objectors and deserters. "The Higher Administrative Court provides an interpretation of the law that other courts must adhere to," he said. 

Robin Wagener, the German government's coordinator for intersocietal cooperation with the Southern Caucasus, the Republic of Moldova and Central Asia, has criticized the court ruling. "There is countless evidence of poorly trained conscripts being used in [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's illegal war of aggression. There have been several reports of Russian soldiers being coerced by their superiors to take part in missions in Ukraine under threat of death or torture."

Russian human rights activists have said the ruling is not the first of its kind in a German court, and claim there have been several cases in which judgments were based on outdated or inaccurate information. Artyom Klyga, a lawyer for the Movement of Conscientious Objectors, a Russian organization that helps people avoid military service, said there were at least a dozen such cases.

Klyga said the assumption that Russian recruits were not being sent to fight in the war had been proven mistaken most recently following Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region in August. He said that ever since, young Russian recruits from other regions had been sent to Kursk to fight Ukrainian armed forces.

"I wouldn't say that German courts are adopting positions held by the Russian government. I interpret it as an unwillingness to consider information provded by human rights activists and the United Nations. It is easier to echo Russia's state media outlets, who claim there is no mobilization," said Klyga.

Russians deported via unnamed airports

In the first eight months of 2024, 32 Russian citizens were deported from Germany, four times more than in all of 2023. According to data from the Federal Interior Ministry, which was made available to Tagesschau.de and DW, Russians are being deported via third countries. Police staff accompany them to a transfer point and then hand them over to an airline's security service.

The documents did not name any specific airports, but these are likely to be in Belgrade or Istanbul, as connecting flights to Russia with a single airline are possible through these cities.

Between the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and August 2024, 5,831 Russian men aged between 18 and 45 applied for asylum in Germany. Only 57 were fully successful, while 154 were granted temporary residence status.

Almost half of the applications were either withdrawn or rejected for formal reasons, including noncompliance with the Dublin Regulation, which states that asylum applications may only be submitted in the EU country first entered by the asylum-seeker.

The German Interior Ministry had promised protection to Russian conscientious objectors in September 2022, after a partial mobilization was declared in Russia.

The 22-year-old whose complaint led to the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg's landmark ruling is still in Germany. The court has not allowed an appeal against the ruling — however, the plaintiff's lawyer has now filed a complaint against this refusal of admission.

This article was originally written in German.