This recognition of violations in the case “Lakatosh and Others v. Russia” was the first example of effective international protection of the rights of stateless persons. This case should have helped achieve the strategic goals of stopping Russia’s attempts to expel stateless person and ending the practice of placing them in foreign national detention centers in violation of the provisions of the European Convention. Following the Lakatosh case, another similar case—“Kim v. Russia”—was won at the ECtHR. In this case, the court ordered compensation for the victim and prescribed general measures that would prevent the pointless detention of stateless persons. These measures included amending laws, introducing judicial control over the terms and expedience of placing stateless persons in closed institutions, and issuing people without citizenship documents allowing them to live and work legally in Russia. Other cases have also been won by stateless persons at the ECtHR; in those cases, the court repeated the arguments it used in the Kim case.2 However, neither the Kim case and other similar cases at the ECtHr nor the judgment issued by Russia’s Constitutional Court in the case of Noé Mskhiladze (2017), which recognized the ECtHR’s arguments, did anything to fundamentally improve the situation of stateless persons in Russia. Amendments to migration laws, which passed a first reading in the State Duma, had not been adopted at the time of publication.3 Even though there has been some progress and the judgments of the ECtHR and Russia’s Constitutional Court have had a positive impact on court decisions in individual cases, the rights of stateless persons in Russia continue to be violated: courts are still issuing decisions to expel stateless persons and placing them in foreign national detention centers for periods of up to two years. In addition, the problem of documenting stateless persons has not been resolved, even in the cases that won at the ECtHR. The problem of stateless persons of Roma origin is systemic, and its solution requires efforts from the authorities in both Russia and Ukraine. The fate of Anna Lakatosh and Aladar Forkosh depends on whether these countries will be able to act quickly to bring laws and practice into line with international human rights standards. 2  Mainov v. Russia 3  Draft law No. 306915-7 “On Amendments to the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses (concerning the detention terms of foreign nationals and stateless persons subject to forcible expulsion from the Russian Federation in the corresponding specialized facilities, the procedure for extending such terms, and the unique aspects of enforcing and stopping the enforcement of this administrative punishment). Website of the legislative activities of the RF State Duma: https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/306915-7 8