MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. French military expert, volunteer and journalist Adrien Bocquet, who was covering the events in Donbass, filed an application in Moscow for refugee status in Russia, a TASS correspondent reported on Tuesday.
As interim head of the department on the issues of refugees, temporary asylum and displaced persons of Moscow’s Directorate for Migration Affairs of the Russian Interior Ministry major Alexey Zhurin told the French journalist, his documents would be reviewed within five working days, and "then a decision will be made."
Bocquet told reporters why he needed refugee status and then Russian citizenship. "First of all, to survive. Russian citizenship will allow me to live. Secondly, I share Russia’s values, I am fighting Nazism and will fight it to the end. I share the values of patriotism that you have in your country. Unfortunately, my native land is giving weapons to Nazis. I am fighting them and will continue to fight, that is, will do the same as Russia is doing right now," he said.
On January 16, Interior Ministry Spokeswoman Irina Volk told TASS that the agency was ready to review the issue of settling the legal status of the French journalist on the territory of the Russian Federation should he file a corresponding application. The spokeswoman added that explanations on the application procedure for political asylum and refugee status in Russia were sent to Bocquet in December.
On January 11, Bocquet told TASS that he filed for Russian citizenship and political asylum.
Adrien Bocquet is a former member of the French military. In Donetsk, he functioned as a military expert on NATO weapons. Additionally, he is involved in volunteer issues. Bocquet became one of the first Western volunteers who publicly stated that the events in Bucha were a false flag operation staged by the Ukrainian military. Earlier, criminal proceedings were launched against him in France and he was almost killed in an attempt on his life by Ukrainian nationalists in Istanbul.