Finnish politician Anno Turtiainen and his wife Mina Marita Turtiainen have been granted refugee status in Russia, Irina Volk, an official spokeswoman for the Russian Interior Ministry, announced.
“Ano Turtiainen and his wife Mina Marita Turtiainen have appealed to my colleagues from the migration department of the Main Directorate of the Russian Interior Ministry for Moscow with a request to be recognized as refugees in the Russian Federation“, she said.
Turtiainen founded and leads the political party "Power belongs to the people", advocating for maintaining relations between Russia and Finland and opposing Finland's accession to the NATO. He and his family are being persecuted by the Finnish authorities. “The former MP noted that he was one of the seven who voted against Finland joining NATO. After that, his family's life became very difficult“, Volk added.
The Turtiainen family's refugee certificates were issued by Alexei Zhurin, head of the Department for Refugees, Temporary Asylum and Internally Displaced Persons of the Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow.
Source: tass.ru