Facts
The Ukrainian national X. and her son [Y.] hold a settlement permit for the Canton of St. Gallen. Due to marital problems, they moved to a women's shelter in the Canton of Zurich. However, the authorities of the Canton of Zurich refused to grant them a settlement permit for the Canton of Zurich and demanded that they leave the cantonal territory. X. and [Y.] filed a complaint with the DFC against this, as they believed they could derive a claim to change cantons from a settlement agreement between Switzerland and Russia from 1872.Considerations
The DFC first examined whether the complainants could derive a claim to change cantons from the settlement agreement of 1872 between Switzerland and Russia. It concluded that while the agreement could in principle also apply to successor states of the Soviet Union such as Ukraine, the legal situation is unclear.
The DFC stated that the termination of the agreement by the provisional Russian government in 1917 should be considered null and void, as this government was not recognized by Switzerland. However, the agreement was also not updated or claimed by…