MINSK, 6 May (BelTA) – The Belarusian Interior Ministry will continue providing subsidiary protection to Ukrainians coming from the conflict zone, Sergei Kasinsky, the head of the division for refugees and asylum of the citizenship and migration department of the Belarusian Interior Ministry, said on 6 May at a press conference held to mark the World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, BelTA has learned.
“Subsidiary protection is granted for one year and may be extended if the situation [in the country that the refugee came from] has not improved. Today we believe that the situation has not changed and has not improved enough for us to stop providing subsidiary protection to these people,” Sergei Kasinsky explained.
He noted that some of the Ukrainians who fled to Belarus from the conflict zone decide to return to their home country. However, there are few of them.
Sergei Kasinsky said that in 2014, a total of 900 Ukrainian nationals applied for subsidiary protection in Belarus. In 2015 the figure stood at 1,200. In Q1 2016 the citizenship and migration department of the Interior Ministry received applications for subsidiary protection from some 200 Ukrainians. “The Minsk agreements are being implemented, and the influx of Ukrainian citizens has subsided but not stopped. Today in Belarus there are around 47,000 Ukrainian nationals with temporary or permanent residence permits,” Sergei Kasinsky added.
He said that there has also been a steady inflow of Syrian refugees since 2013. “These are mainly young Syrians who came to Belarus to study and do not want to return home because of the civil war. There are also families, and some of them are mixed,” Sergei Kasinsky pointed out.
