STANKEVICH STRIPPED OF REFUGEE STATUS IN POLAND








WARSAW, March 13, 2001. /From RIA Novosti correspondent Viktor Nesterovich/. Sergei Stankevich, former adviser to Russian president Boris Yeltsin, has been stripped of the status of refugee in Poland.


	In 1997 Stankevich, who was on the territory of Poland, was charged by the Russian prosecutor's office of receiving a large bribe. The Polish authorities turned down the Russian law-enforcement bodies' demand for his extradition and granted the refugee status to Stankevich. Now that the charge has been lifted from Stankevich, the Polish migration service has decided that there is no longer any reason for him to continue enjoying  the refugee status.


	Stankevich does not intend to return to Russia and wants to remain in Poland on general grounds.