Russia’s anti-LGBT propoganda laws and growing hostilities towards the LGBT community have caused an upswing in asylum requests in The United States.

837 Russians sought asylum in the US during the last 12 months compared to 722 the year before – the most since 2002. LGBT group Immigration Equality say they have received 99 inquiries from Russian LGBT asylum seekers when they only received 63 inquiries from Russians during the previous 12 months – suggesting LGBT Russians make up a large proportion of the Russians to seek asylum in the US in 2013. However the group said that of 42 cases it took on on behalf of LGBT Russians in the last year only 11 were successful in achieving asylum.

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