Finnish court reopens asylum case of two Russians who were days from deportation

A Finnish court has ordered a review of the deportation case against Olga Belova and her son, Nikita Belov, two Russians who helped Ukrainian refugees, the British newspaper The Guardian reported, citing the family’s lawyer.

The lawyer said the court overturned the Finnish Immigration Service’s decision to deny the Belovs asylum because the pair had “provided so much new evidence on them being profiled as being at risk of persecution.” Their case will now be reconsidered, and the lawyer said he hoped the two would be granted asylum soon.

Belova called the ruling the first good news in four years — a period overshadowed by “constant uncertainty and fear of deportation.”

Antti Lehtinen, the director of the Finnish Immigration Service’s international protection department, said he could not comment on individual cases but added that only about 5% of the agency’s decisions are sent back for review each year.

The Belovs left Russia for Finland after the Russia-Ukraine war began. Nikita Belov left the country over his work on an “unnamed secret project” at the Bardin Central Research Institute of Ferrous Metallurgy, according to the independent Russian broadcaster TV Rain. His superiors claimed the project had nothing to do with the war, but it soon became clear that it did.

In Finland, the Belovs helped Ukrainian refugees, including through the volunteer humanitarian center FinEst in Uusikaupunki. They applied for asylum but were turned down, and in April 2026, police summoned them and said deportation proceedings had begun. The two were placed in custody soon afterward. On April 27, the Helsinki Administrative Court suspended the deportation order.