Ref: RUS35824

344 Slater Street

12th Floor

Ottawa, Ontario

K1A 0K1

10 November 2000

Nikolai Khramov

Secretary

Antimilitarist Radical Association

Pechatnikov per. 6

10345 Moscow

Russian Federation

E-mail: ara@ara.ru

Dear Mr. Khramov:

This letter is regarding a request for information on behalf of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada.

The IRB is an independent administrative tribunal responsible for the determination of refugee status and immigration appeals in Canada. To function effectively, the IRB requires current, reliable and publicly available information on claimants' countries of origin. This need is met by the Research Directorate, which provides information to those involved in the refugee determination process.

The Research Directorate would appreciate your assistance in obtaining an answer to the following:

What are the areas, excluding Chechnya, where conscripts in the armed forces of the Russian Federation are engaged in armed conflict or where a high probability of armed conflict exists?

Since, as indicated below, information you provide may be used as evidence in refugee determination hearings, we would appreciate it if you could indicate your title and indicate whether the information you provide reflects your own viewpoint or the position of your organization.

All reports produced by the Research Directorate may be used as documentary evidence during refugee determination hearings in Canada, are publicly available, and can be accessed on the IRB Internet Website at www.irb.gc.ca. As a matter of practice, the Research Directorate does not include the names of sources in its short reports but will cite professional titles and the institution with which sources are affiliated. If, in the hearing room, the IRB decision-maker requests the Research Directorate to name its sources, we will be legally obliged to do so. However, refugee determination hearings are closed to the public with only the participants at the hearing privy to the evidence and, therefore, to the name of the source.

You should also be aware that should a request for leave to appeal a decision of the IRB be granted by the Federal Court, the entire record of proceedings before the IRB becomes a matter of public record.

Thank you for your assistance in this regard.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Ziegler

Research Officer

Research Directorate

Tel: (613) 995-3951

Fax: (613) 954-1228

E-mail: richard.ziegler@irb.gc.ca

cc: Chron.

Immigration and

Refugee Board

La Commission de l'immigration

et du statut de refugie

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