was partially bombed in the heavy military operations in the area, he really had nowhere and
nothing to go back to. He stayed in Russia, working ad-hoc on different construction projects
and getting paid cash-in-hand.
In September 2018, the immigration authorities raided a building site on which Mr
Yakubov was working. He was, together with other migrant workers apprehended on the site,
taken to the local district court, where he was sentenced to a fine and deportation – the
minimum penalty for undocumented work in certain regions of Russia (Kubal, 2016). Given
that he had no valid document for return, Mr Yakubov was placed in a detention centre. The
Federal Bailiffs Service petitioned the Ukrainian embassy in Russia asking to confirm
whether Mr Yakubov was indeed a Ukrainian citizen. The response received stated, however,
that ‘at present moment it is impossible to corroborate whether Mr Yakubov is indeed a
Ukrainian citizen as access to the relevant documents is impeded by the military conflict in
Eastern Ukraine’. Given the dispute over Mr Yakubov’s citizenship, and the fact that he was
not in possession of any identity documents that would enable him to cross the international
border with Ukraine, the Court of Appeal ordered the termination of the legal proceedings
against Mr Yakubov and released him from the detention centre. Mr Yakubov is now in the
process of identity verification, upon completion of which, the Russian authorities – as
obliged by the RCC ruling in Mskhiladze – will issue him with identity and residence
documents. The new planned law ‘On Stateless Persons’ stipulates that these documents will
be issued to all stateless persons in Russia regardless of when and where they came from,
regardless of their past criminal record and/or entry restrictions related to decisions about
deportation, expulsion and removal.9 Mr Yakubov’s life – and the lives of other Eastern
9
The bill prepared by the Ministry of Interior is in the final consultation stage and is to be debated in Russian
Duma by the end of 2019.
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