Anna Ploskonosova, 20, was facing up to five years in prison on charges of assaulting a police officer during a Nov. 7 opposition rally in Tula -- allegations she said were trumped up. She fled to Ukraine earlier this year and subsequently applied for political asylum.
Ploskonosova, who was the fiancee of a National Bolshevik beaten to death in murky circumstances last year, learned Tuesday that Ukrainian authorities had granted her asylum, fellow activist and refugee Mikhail Gangan said by telephone from Ukraine.
She became the third National Bolshevik to receive political asylum in Ukraine in recent years.
A fourth party activist was to submit his application for asylum to Ukrainian authorities on Thursday, said Gangan, who declined to name the activist or elaborate on the circumstances surrounding his decision to flee Russia.
Yury Korolyuk, a spokesman for Ukraine's State Committee for Nationalities and Religion, which deals with asylum requests, said confidentiality laws prevented him from commenting on Ploskonosova's case.
"All information concerning the status of refugees is secret," Korolyuk said by telephone from Kiev.
National Bolshevik activists, known for their theatrical protests, have faced often heavy-handed crackdowns by law enforcement authorities in recent years.
Ploskonosova's fiance, Yury Chervochkin, was beaten to death by unidentified assailants in the Moscow region town of Serpukhov last November, two days before an opposition rally in Moscow. His friends and colleagues have accused local police of being behind the attack. No suspects have been detained.
National Bolsheviks say they prefer seeking asylum in Ukraine rather than in other countries because of its proximity to Russia, lack of a visa regime and a general absence of a language barrier.
Ploskonosova submitted her application for refugee status to immigration officials in the central Ukrainian city of Vinnitsa on March 9. Attempts to reach her for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.
In December 2005, Moscow's Tverskoi District Court handed Gangan, 22, a three-year suspended sentence for storming the reception area of the presidential administration to protest Kremlin policies along with several dozen National Bolsheviks. A Samara court last year ruled that Gangan had violated the terms of his suspended sentence and handed him a real prison term. He subsequently fled Russia.
Another National Bolshevik, 24-year-old Olga Kudrina, was granted asylum in Ukraine in March after a two-year wait.
n? Oleg Kozlovsky, head of the opposition youth group Oborona, will receive an award Thursday from Human Rights First, a New York-based NGO, the web site of opposition activist and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov reported Wednesday.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.