Tribunal grants asylum to Russian who protested outside embassy and gave £22 to Ukraine's army

An Upper Tribunal judge has thrown out the Home Office's claim that the man, identified only as AD, was merely 'a face in the crowd' at anti-Putin protests outside London's Russian embassy. Judge Hirst found the gatherings, typically 15 to 30 people, were small enough for participants to be easily identified, with a realistic possibility Russian authorities had monitored them using facial recognition.

Ludwig Maximilian University expert Dr Rano Turaeva-Hoehne says 1,300 people have faced prosecution for opposing the war.

Russia jailed a programmer for 15 years in August 2025 over a small donation to Ukraine.

Home Office argued Russian claimant AD's social media accounts were untraceable and his donation unlinked to his name.