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Russian dissidents call on Ottawa to resettle their peers facing deportation in U.S.

Natalia Arno, founder of the Free Russia Foundation, and Ilya Yashin, former opposition party leader and Moscow city councillor, urged Ottawa to resettle Russians facing U.S. deportation.
Recent U.S. deportation flights have prompted activists to highlight Russia's sustained crackdown since 2014 and cases like Artyom Vovchenko's August deportation and Leonid Melekhin's arrest this year.
Held cases in the U.S. underline the activists' urgency: `We wanted to build alliances here in Canada, because solidarity is our biggest weapon against dictators`, Natalia Arno said this past week.
Global Affairs Canada confirmed officials met with Arno and Yashin Wednesday, discussing Russia and Ukraine, while IRCC said it `maintains a rigorous process` and Yashin urged Canada to request U.S. transfer of Russian nationals.
Their visit, amid a public rift with Ukrainian activists, highlighted that Arno and Yashin said Russian dissidents could help Canada tailor sanctions and warned as many as one thousand pro-democracy Russians in the U.S. face deportation.

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