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Russia Cancels Planned Deportation of Three Syrian Refugees

The deportation of three Syrian refugees from Russia has been cancelled, thanks to the efforts of several NGOs, Moscow's Civil Assistance Committee reported Friday.

The Syrian refugees were brought to Moscow from Dagestan's Makhachkala on Thursday. They were due to be deported to Damascus after their application for asylum was rejected by the Dagestan branch of Russia's Federal Migration Service.

“They have been returned to Makhachkala. We will keep working on providing them with asylum status in Russia,” Civil Assistance Committee head Svetlana Gannushkina said.

On Feb. 24, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that one of the refugees in question, Zakariae Barri Abdelmouem, could not be deported.

The deportation of all three refugees was cancelled after Russia's Presidential Council of Human Rights head Mikhail Fedotov intervened, the Civil Assistance Committee said.

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