Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin has rejected an offer of political asylum from the German authorities, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
Yashin, who was released from prison in Russia earlier this month as part of the largest ever prisoner swap between Russia and the West, said that he couldn’t accept the status of a political refugee as that would make it impossible for him to return to Russia. He said he had applied for a residence permit in the country instead.
Yashin, tipped by many to be the most likely successor to Alexey Navalny as the unofficial leader of Russia’s exiled political opposition, also told Bloomberg that he planned to lobby European officials to expand sanctions against people associated with Vladimir Putin’s regime.
“Only 2,000 people are under sanctions, and 20,000 are needed,” Yashin said.
A German Interior Ministry spokesperson declined a request to confirm that Yashin had rejected an offer of political asylum, according to Bloomberg.
Yashin, who led the People’s Freedom Party (PARNAS) from 2012 to 2016 and headed the municipal administration of Moscow’s Krasnoselsky district from 2017 to 2021, was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison in June 2023 for publicly condemning the indiscriminate 2022 killing of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.