26 L.M. AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 2. Merits (a) General principles 108. The relevant general principles concerning the application of Article 3 have recently been summarised by the Court in Mamazhonov v. Russia (no. 17239/13, §§ 127-35, 23 October 2014). They also apply with regard to Article 2 of the Convention (see, for example, Kaboulov v. Ukraine, no. 41015/04, § 99, 19 November 2009, and M.A. v. Cyprus, cited above, § 133). In the present case, the issues under Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention are indissociable and the Court will therefore examine them together (see K.A.B. v. Sweden, no. 886/11, § 67, 5 September 2013). 109. In respect of applications lodged in Russia, primarily by applicants originating from the countries of Central Asia, the Court has identified the critical elements to be subjected to a searching scrutiny. Firstly, it has to be considered whether an applicant has presented the national authorities with substantial grounds for believing that he faces a real risk of ill-treatment in the destination country. Secondly, the Court will inquire into whether the claim has been assessed adequately by the competent national authorities discharging their procedural obligations under Article 3 of the Convention and whether their conclusions were sufficiently supported by relevant material. Lastly, having regard to all of the substantive aspects of a case and the available relevant information, the Court will assess the existence of the real risk of suffering torture or treatment incompatible with Convention standards (see Mamazhonov, cited above, §§ 136-37, with further references). (b) Existence of substantial grounds for believing that the applicants face a real risk of death and/or ill-treatment and their assessment by the national authorities 110. In view of the above, the Court will focus primarily on the examination of the applicants’ complaint in the context of the proceedings under the Code of Administrative Offences (see paragraphs 100-04). The Court notes that in these proceedings the applicants challenged the possibility of expulsion. They argued that they originated from Aleppo and Damascus, where heavy and indiscriminate fighting has been raging since 2012. In addition to the general information on the conflict in Syria, they pointed out the practice of the FMS in respect of people originating from Syria and the UNHCR recommendation not to carry out expulsions to Syria, as well as information from the Federal Bailiff Service on the impossibility of ensuring travel there. The applicants referred to a similar case decided in St. Petersburg where the City Court concluded that expulsion could not be carried out and lifted the additional punishment of expulsion (see paragraphs 12 and 72 above). The statements of appeal also referred to the