To the Prime Minister of Canada

Mark Carney

Dear Prime Minister,

Our names are Yulia Navalnaya, Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin. We are Russian politicians representing the democratic opposition to Vladimir Putin’s regime and opposing the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops.

With this letter, we would like first of all to express our respect for your people and your country. Canada’s steadfast commitment to defending humanist values, human rights, and the victims of aggression inspires freedom fighters across the world. We thank you for this principled position.

Secondly, we would like to address a dramatic problem currently faced by many of our compatriots in the United States. We refer to Russian citizens who have supported opposition organizations in our country, taken part in street protests against Putin’s policies, and spoken out against the Kremlin’s aggression in Ukraine. Many of them were forced to leave Russia under the threat of criminal prosecution. These risks are all too real, as any opposition activity and criticism of the authorities in Russia today is effectively treated as a crime.

Russian dissidents ask Canada to take in colleagues facing deportation in the U.S.

We speak from experience. Yulia Navalnaya’s husband, Alexey Navalny, was arrested by Putin’s regime and murdered in prison in February, 2024. Vladimir Kara-Murza survived two poisonings organized by the Russian security services and, along with Ilya Yashin, spent more than two years in prison for criticizing the war in Ukraine. Both Kara-Murza and Yashin regained their freedom only as a result of a major political prisoner exchange between the West and the Kremlin.

Several hundred opposition-minded Russians applied for political asylum in the United States to avoid imprisonment at home. Most of them legally crossed the border under the U.S. government’s CBP One program and were awaiting consideration of their petitions in various American cities.

Unfortunately, following the change of administration in the White House, the situation for our compatriots has significantly worsened. The CBP One program was terminated, and U.S. courts have increasingly adopted a skeptical approach toward anti-war and opposition-minded Russians. Today, many Russian citizens who have applied for asylum in the United States are being held in immigration detention centers, despite having committed no violations of the law. Families are often separated, with spouses sent to prisons in different states and children placed with foster families. People who fled Kremlin repression and Putin’s prisons are ending up in American prisons. This appears profoundly unjust.

Worse still, U.S. courts are increasingly issuing denials of asylum claims and granting the executive branch the authority to deport our compatriots back to Russia – where, as a rule, this means immediate arrest by Putin’s security services.

For example, in July of this year, opposition activist Leonid Melekhin was deported from the United States. Upon arrival in Russia, he was immediately sent to prison, where he now faces a lengthy sentence on charges of supporting the political structures of Alexey Navalny.

This situation threatens to destroy the lives of many decent and innocent people, and it causes us great concern. In this regard, we appeal to you to demonstrate the tradition of humanitarian spirit that is characteristic of Canadian state policy and to support our opposition-minded compatriots who now face the risk of deportation from the United States to Russia.

Here is the essence of our request:

1. We ask that Canada adopt a decision to grant asylum to those Russian citizens whose opposition and anti-war activities are beyond doubt, and who are subject to deportation orders by the U.S. authorities.

2. We ask that you inform the U.S. government of Canada’s readiness to receive such individuals on Canadian soil and propose that they be transferred to Canada instead of being deported to Russia.

3. We ask that you establish a working group at the Embassy of Canada in the United States, to which Russians awaiting asylum decisions and fearing deportation could turn for assistance.

Dear Prime Minister, we would be most grateful if you view our initiative with understanding, and of course, we stand ready to cooperate in developing specific steps toward its implementation.

Respectfully yours,

Yulia Navalnaya

Vladimir Kara-Murza

Ilya Yashin