their liberty, despite the fact that they cannot be expelled anywhere. After their release, they are not provided with identity documents, which becomes grounds for repeated detentions. The Russian legislation doesn’t impose judicial control over the reasons and duration of the detention, therefore, those who have nowhere to be expelled or deported to are detained indefinitely without access to legal aid, in conditions that are worse than prison. 30. Foreign nationals find themselves in the same situation if their expulsion cannot be carried out. This might be due to lack of effective communication with the diplomatic missions of the countries of their origin, errors in documents, closed borders due to the pandemic or the war against Ukraine etc. 31. Back in 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued an important decision in the case of the stateless person Roman Kim, whose detention was found to be in violation of Articles 3 and 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights.8 The general measures requested by the ECHR were not implemented, and it is only when the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation delivered a ruling in a similar case of the stateless person Noe Mskhiladze that the immigration detention of stateless people was deemed unconstitutional. Based on the case of Mskhiladze, the lawyers managed to release dozens of foreigners and stateless persons, but the legislation has only partially been improved since then. 32. As for the documentation of stateless people, the amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens, which entered into force in August 2021, have already allowed hundreds of stateless persons to obtain a temporary ID-card. The document is valid for 10 years; documented stateless persons cannot be expelled or deported; decisions on their undesirability, expulsion or deportation must be annulled. A limited time is allowed for the identification of a stateless person and the issuance of an ID. Documented stateless persons cannot be found administratively responsible for violation of the migration regime or "illegal labor". 33. However, the documentation procedure is still working poorly. Law enforcement agencies often delay or sabotage the identification procedure. Amendments on the regularization of stateless persons have not been reflected in all related laws – for example, it is necessary to introduce stateless persons into the Law on Acts of Civil Status so that they can marry, be the official parent of their children, receive social benefits, have access to education, health services, etc. 34. As for judicial control over the terms and grounds of detention, it has not yet been introduced into the legislation. The relevant amendments to the Administrative Code have been under consideration since 2017 and have not yet been adopted. The courts continue to decide on the expulsion of stateless persons and their detention in deportation centers. Human rights defenders continue registering a lot of cases of detention of stateless people throughout Russia; many are imprisoned several times – this applies even to those who won cases in the ECHR and received compensation. 35. The lack of judicial control over the reasons and terms of detention in deportation centers has had the most dramatic effect on the situation of Ukrainian citizens: for violating the migration regime, the courts sentence them to expulsion and deprive them of their freedom, although Ukrainian citizens cannot leave for their homeland during the war. Mass detentions of Ukrainians took place in February – May 2022. 36. A decree of the President of the Russian Federation on temporary cancellation of expulsion/deportation of Ukrainians and on the lifting restrictions on their stay in the Russia9 has eased the situation of many, but by no means all, Ukrainian citizens who cannot leave Russia due to military actions. For example, those who have served a criminal sentence in Russia and should be deported continue to be detained "before deportation" which is obviously impossible. In fact, they receive a new term of imprisonment, although they have already served time for a criminal offense. B. Nationality stripping 37. Recently, there have been several remarkable cases of stripping Russian nationality; all related to former citizens of the USSR who acquired citizenship of the Russian Federation, which was their only one. 8 ECHR, Kim v. Russia, application no. 44260/13, 17 July 2014. See also the summary of this case on the Statelessness Case Law Database. 9 Decree No. 585 — "On temporary measures to regulate the legal status of citizens of the Donetsk People's Republic, Lugansk People's Republic and Ukraine in the Russian Federation", August 27, 2022. 6