The German authorities began to deport Russian LGBT and anti-war activists, people who donated money to organizations that the Kremlin considers "undesirable" or "terrorist", deserters and anyone who faces imprisonment in their homeland, under escort through Belgrade or Yerevan. About this "Echo" told human rights advocates who handle such cases.
According to them, German officials used to be held back by the fact that deportations could only be carried out via direct flights—either to the person’s country of citizenship or to a country willing to accept the deportee.
In 2023, according to official data, 7 people were sent to Russia, in 2024 - more than 32 people. There is no complete data on deportations to the Russian Federation in 2025, but the publication clarifies that in 2025 the German authorities expelled significantly more people than in 2024 or before that. The German Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not respond to Echo's requests.
In 2025, Germany deported a total of 22,787 people to various countries—a 13.5% increase from the previous year. Of these, 2,297 were sent to Turkey, more than double the previous year’s figure (1,087). Georgia ranked second with 1,690 deportees (among them— the family of the murdered man's brother in Berlin in 2019, the Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, whose murderer, Vadim Krasikov, was exchanged by the Russian authorities for political prisoners). Last year, 83 people were taken to Afghanistan, 18 to Iran. Also, for the first time since 2011, writes "Echo", Germany deported a Syrian citizen.
Human rights activists and migrants told Echo that the rules for voluntary departure have also been tightened after the refusal to provide documents.
Immigration police verify whether a person actually lives at the declared address by posing as mail carriers, and at night or early in the morning, an unmarked black van arrives. Officers give the person 15 minutes to pack, confiscate their phone, handcuff them, and take them to the airport for deportation; their passport is handed over to the pilot. This often happens long before the deadline for voluntary departure from the country, as specified in the documents signed by the migrant.
Under the law, deportation is prohibited if there is a threat to life, torture, or inhumane treatment in the country of destination, regardless of whether it is the person’s home country or a third country. However, judging by the responses, German authorities have begun to assess the risks faced by anti-war Russians in the Russian Federation based on official statements from the Russian authorities themselves.
One of them, who volunteered at Navalny’s campaign headquarters and donated to the FBK, toldthat, among other things, German officials motivated the refusal by the phrase that "even a totalitarian state has the right to conscript its citizens into the army."
Another Russian who was denied asylum said that the decision said that "laws on discrediting the army exist in any country, not only in a totalitarian one."
In March 2025, Germany deported An openly lesbian woman with Russian citizenship, who had been living in Ukraine until after the full-scale Russian invasion, was deported to Russia via Morocco. The woman managed to flee to a third country.
February 10, European Parliament simplified deportation of asylum-seekers by introducing the concept of "safe third countries". Now each EU country will have the right to determine the list of such states, conclude treaties with them, and will also be able to deport asylum seekers there, even if they have never been there.
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