While tens of thousands of Syrian refugees continue to flee civil war by traveling to neighboring countries and Europe, Russia is a rare destination despite its Soviet and Cold War ties to Damascus.
According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, there were 238,836 refugees and asylum-seekers in Russia as of January. But almost all of them, 234,016, fled the fighting in Ukraine, while only 2,340 were from Syria.
Bayisa Wak-Woya, the UNHCR representative for Russia, told VOA that the number had dropped to about 1,600.
“Unlike in the West, where people have a tradition of …read more
Source: Voice of America
