The Return of the Syrian Refugees: Russia’s Approach

ABSTRACT

This article explores the efforts undertaken by Russia together with Syrian authorities to bring Syrian refugees home since the conclusion of the major combat operations in the summer of 2018. It focuses on analyzing the Russian approach and its primary elements, the organizational entities taking measures to return the refugees, and their functions. It sums up the results of the first year of the program of returning refugees to Syria. It also examines the obstacles impeding the return of Syrian refugees on a mass scale. The author shows the inappropriateness of efforts to put the entire responsibility for refugees’ return on Russia alone, which was forced to take on the role of chief foreign sponsor of the process due to the passivity of other powers.

KEYWORDS:

• Russia
• Syria
• refugees
• humanitarian aid
• reconstruction
• conflict

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Syria Regional Refugee Response. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Operational Portal: Refugee Situations. URL: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/syria#_ga=2.265225223.984627958.1569910244-1443621624.1569910244.

2. Jordan Country Office. – Amman (Jordan): Danish Refugee Council, September 2019. URL: https://drc.ngo/media/5399140/drc-jordan-factsheet-sep-2019.pdf.

3. Projections of population growth of other countries // Population of the World: Live World Population Clock. URL: https://www.livepopulation.com/population-projections/world-2030.html. Accessed November 14, 2019.

4. This was the number of spots that were originally prepared to house returnees.

5. Belen’kaia, M. “‘Rossiia dolzhna ubedit’ mezhdunarodnoe soobshchestvo, chto rech’ idet o dobrovol’nom vozvrashchenii bezhentsev’: glava MID Livana ob usloviiakh vozvrashcheniia siriitsev na rodinu,” Kommersant, No. 149, August 21, 2018, p. 6.

6. Quoted from: Joneidi, L.; Z. Tüfekçi; and O. Keskin. “Siriiskie bezhentsy boiatsia vozvrashchat’sia iz Iordanii: predstavitel’ UVKB OON v Iordanii rasskazal o polozhenii bezhentsev v etoi strane.” Russian-language portal of Anadolu Agency (Turkey), March 21, 2019. URL: https://www/aa/com/tr/ru/mir/siriiskie-bezhentsy-boiatsia-vozvrashchat’sia-iz-Iordanii-/1424906.

7. Informatsionnyi biulleten’ Tsentra po primireniiu vrazhduiushchikh storon i kontroliu za peremeshcheniem bezhentsev. Ministerstvo oborony RF. September 30, 2019. URL: http://syria.mil.ru/peacemaking/info/refugee_migration/more.htm?id=12254728@egNews

8. “Rossiia napravit v Siriiu spetstekhniku i bolee chetyrekh tysiach tonn stroimaterialov,” Vesti.ru, September 13, 2017. URL: https://www.vesti.ru/videos/show/vid/729654.

9. Conditions of Return for the Syrian Refugees in Lebanon. Beirut (Lebanon): Common Space Initiative, 2018.

10. Informatsionnyi biulleten’ Tsentra po primireniiu, op. cit.

11. “Syrian Authorities Force Syrian Refugees Returning from Jordan to Daraa by Land to Refer to Political Security Branch.” Syrians for Truth and Justice Brief. 07.12.2018, URL: https://stj-sy.org/en/1052.

12. Jordan: Intention survey analysis. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) data, November 2018. URL: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/68440.

13. Mhaissen, R., and E. Hodges. “Unpacking Return: Syrian Refugees Conditions and Concerns. SAWA for Development and Aid Report, February 2019,” p. 34. URL: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/SAWA_Unpacking%20Return%20Report.pdf.

14. “V khode voiny v Sirii razrusheno do 70% infrastruktury krupnykh gorodov,” Interfax, April 24, 2019. URL: https://www.interfax.ru/world/659216.

15. “Mezhvedomstevnnye koordinatsionnye shtaby Rossii i Sirii nazvali problemy, prepiatstvuiushchie vozvrashcheniiu bezhentsev.” Ministerstvo oborony RF. July 10, 2019. URL: http://syria.mil.ru/peacemaking/info/JHQsessions/more.htm?id=12240619@egNews

16. Vishniakova, V. “‘Masshtabnogo vozvrashcheniia bezhentsev v Siriiu ne budet’: glava missii Krasnogo Kresta v Livane Kristof Martin dal ekskliusivnoe interv’iu News.ru.” News.ru, July 3, 2019. URL: https://news.ru/world/glava-missii-mkkk-v-livane-bezhency-boyatsya-stat-zaklyuchyonnymi-v-sirii.