According to it, in the first quarter of 2005 a total of 4,867 Russians asked for asylum in 36 industrially developed countries. It is the lowest quarter indicator over the last three years.
In the first quarter this year, Russia yielded the pas to Serbia and Montenegro, which is the world's first country in terms of the number of those willing to get asylum, although the flow of refugees from the country has reduced by 13 percent. According to the UNHCR, the flow of refugees is subsiding from all countries except Georgia (+16%) and Haiti (+19%).
The total number of asylum-seekers reduced in the 2005 first quarter by 13 percent in comparison with the fourth quarter in 2004 and by 17 percent from the first quarter last year, totaling 81,900 persons.
In the first quarter, the number of applications arriving in European countries reduced by 15 percent and in North America by 7 percent from the 2004 fourth quarter.
France received the highest number of applications in January-March 2005 (15,700), followed by the United States (13,600) and Britain (8,260). Germany with 6,660 applications is the fourth.
At the same time, according to the UNHCR the number of refugees to Greece increased by 177 percent in the first quarter this year mostly from Georgia (992 applications in comparison with 16 in the 2004 last quarter.
