Russian law views stateless persons as part of a group of “foreign nationals.” For example, Clause 2 of Article 2 of the Federal Law “On the Legal Situation of Foreign Nationals in the Russian Federation” stipulates that “for the purposes of this law, the term ‘foreign national’ includes the term ‘stateless person,’ except in cases where federal law establishes special rules for stateless persons differing from the rules established for foreign nationals.” A similar provision is contained in Clause 2 of Article 2 of the Federal Law “On the Migration Registration of Foreign Nationals and Stateless Persons in the Russian Federation” and other statutes and regulations. However, not one Russian law contains specials rules concerning stateless persons. Absurd norms about the procedure for the administrative expulsion and detention of stateless persons in foreign national detention centers are a glaring example of defects in the law that have caused the rights of hundreds of stateless persons throughout Russia to be violated. For example, Article 34 of the law “On the Legal Situation of Foreign Nationals in Russia” regulates the procedure for administrative expulsion from Russia, which applies identically to foreign nationals and to stateless persons, Article 18.8 of the RF Code of Administrative Proceedings prescribes assigning “foreign nationals and stateless persons” fines “with expulsion or without” for violating migration rules, and RF government resolutions No. 130668 and No. 31069 regulate the terms and procedures for confining “foreign nationals and stateless persons subject to deportation or forcible expulsion from Russia.” These legal acts do not make any account for the special status of stateless people, who, unlike foreign nationals, cannot be expelled to any country. Nevertheless, courts continue to deliberately issue unenforceable decisions on expulsion in cases against stateless persons who have violated residence rules. A court may order expulsion in the form of independent controlled departure or in the form of forcible expulsion. In the case of forcible expulsion, stateless persons are confined in a closed facility until expulsion can be enforced. Paradoxically, the fact that the deportation ruling cannot be enforced because there are no countries to which these people can be deported is determined not during court proceedings, but only after a stateless persons spends a certain period of time in a deten- 68 RF Government Resolution No. 1306 “On the Approval of Rules for the Detention (Stay) of Foreign Nationals or Stateless Persons Subject to Administrative Expulsion from Russia in the Form of Forcible Expulsion, Deportation, or Readmission in Specialized Institutions of the RF Ministry of Internal Affairs or its Local Bodies,” of December 30, 2013 http://www. consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_157232/ 69 RF Government Resolution No. 310 “On the Approval of Requirements for Buildings and (or) Premises Transferred by RF Constituent Entities for the Purposes of Accommodating Specialized Institutions of the Federal Migration Service for Holding Foreign Nationals and Stateless Persons Subject to Administrative Expulsion from the Russian Federation in the Form of Forcible Expulsion, Deportation, or Readmission,” of April 8, 2013. 37