In 2016 there has been registered a record number of Russians seeking asylum in the US, reports Liberty radio station, referring to the US Internal Security Ministry. 1912 applications were submitted from the late 2015 until the end of September 2016, requesting to provide asylum to Russians. This figure is higher by 31% compared to 2015.

In 1994 the number of similar applications made 2127. However, most Russians who seek asylums overseas usually leave for Europe. Only in the 2nd quarter of 2016 the number of applications submitted to European countries amounted to 11.6 thousand.