A group of 65 Russian dissidents who relocated to Spain last year say they are stuck in legal limbo after Spanish authorities allegedly failed to follow through on promises to grant them residency status, according to a report by El Pais on Monday.
The exiled activists, including former regional coordinators for Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, initially received tourist visas on humanitarian grounds to travel to Spain last summer following diplomatic outreach from Madrid. The group claims Spanish officials had assured them of a fast-tracked residency process. However, those efforts stalled after key government contacts ceased responding.
The dissidents, many of whom had previously sought refuge in Georgia, say they were encouraged to relocate to Spain due to deteriorating safety conditions in Georgia. In recent years, authorities in the South Caucasus country have increasingly targeted both domestic dissidents and exiled Kremlin critics.
The relocation was facilitated by the Free Russia Foundation, a pro-democracy advocacy group based in the U.S., which worked in coordination with Spanish authorities to help bring the activists to Spain. Some members of the group have since had their residency applications rejected. Spanish officials ruled that they did not face a proven risk if they returned to Russia, despite Moscow’s intensified crackdown on opposition voices and the fact that some of the individuals face criminal charges in Russia for their anti-war stances.
El Pais reported that, of the 14 activists who had their residency applications processed, eight have already been denied.
“Without that promise, we would never have come to Spain,” Egor Kuroptev, head of the South Caucasus office of the Free Russia Foundation, told El Pais. “As a result, the resettled group has now been in an irregular situation in Spain for more than six months.”
Kuroptev later told The Moscow Times that his organization had received written confirmation from the Spanish Foreign Ministry about providing a fast-track residency process. He shared those documents with El Pais and El Mundo, though he declined to provide them to The Moscow Times, citing ethical concerns.
“We gave an interview only to draw attention to the government… and we are waiting for their support, which was very effective earlier,” he said.
However, sources within Spain’s Foreign Ministry denied that any guarantee of residency had been made. They insisted that the dissidents are eligible to apply for asylum, according to El Pais. The Moscow Times has reached out to the Ministry for further comments.
A Tbilisi-based activist who was initially involved in the relocation effort told The Moscow Times that the Free Russia Foundation created a list in August 2022 for activists wishing to relocate to Spain with their help, but the process was delayed and ultimately stalled.
“At some point, they [Free Russia Foundation] reached some sort of agreement with the Spanish Foreign Ministry and began compiling the first list, which only included prominent figures — media-savvy activists,” the anonymous activist explained.
“These activists were given tourist visas and came to Spain, but for some reason, the Spanish authorities didn’t fulfill the agreements made by the Free Russia Foundation. Now, they’re stuck with expired Schengen tourist visas,” the activist said.
Some of the Russian exiles argue that applying for asylum now — after having been advised to pursue a different path — could leave them unable to work or travel for years while their cases are processed in Spain’s overburdened asylum system.
