Today, the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) published a Country of Origin Information (COI) Report entitled ‘Russian Federation – State Actors of Protection’. The report provides an overview on aspects related to the state protection functions identified as central from a citizen’s perspective – the official institutions that constitute the guarantee for the individual’s possibility to exercise his or her rights. In 2016, the Russian Federation ranked 9th  in the top countries of origin in EU+ countries , with a total of 26,550 applicants.

The EASO COI report on state actors of protection in the Russian Federation aims at providing an overview of the justice and security sectors in the country, in their role as State actors of protection.

To that purpose, the COI report identifies and provides general information of each actor of protection in the Russian Federation, together with their capacity and integrity in performing their tasks. The first part of the reports delivers an insight on the Russian Federation Constitution and state structure, and the second part identifies the relevant state actors of protection for the purpose of this report: the Ministry of Internal Affairs – MVD, the Prosecutor’s Office, Courts, the State Investigative Committee – SK, and the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation.

Given the specific status of Chechnya, a separate chapter was drafted, containing background information on the republic, its structure and recent developments. State protection available in the republic is described by identifying the individual actors of protection, the impact of traditional and religious law, and protection accessible for women.

The Russian Federation – State Actors of Protection report was co-drafted and reviewed by EASO and researchers from a number of national asylum authorities represented in EASO’s COI Network (contributions as drafters or reviewers from Belgium, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland). A further review and content update was carried out by ACCORD (Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation) in accordance with the EASO COI Report Methodology and EASO Mandate. In line with this methodology, country information from a wide variety of sources is provided, while refraining from making any assessments or policy conclusions.

Any further information may be obtained from the European Asylum Support Office by contacting Mr Jean-Pierre Schembri on the following e-mail address: jean-pierre.schembri@easo.europa.eu

The report can downloaded here.

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^{1 EU Member States plus Norway and Switzerland}