The problem of bans on leaving the Russian Federation has acquired an “avalanche-like” character

Russian tour operators announced an increase in bans on traveling abroad from Russia and the seizure of foreign passports.

This was reported by Arthur Muradyan, vice-president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia. The problem is related to errors and inconsistencies of data in the foreign passports of Russians. At first, people were turned away at the border because of spelling errors in documents, “the genders were mixed up somewhere,” but now FSB officers are finding fault with the letter “e” and the Soviet names of settlements, quotes Muradyan The Moscow Times:

“Anyone born before 1991 can expect problems. They also confuse Sverdlovsk and Yekaterinburg, Samara and Kuibyshev.”

Vice President ATOR warns that security forces may have questions if the place of birth on a foreign identity card is indicated in less detail than on the domestic one. It is useless to argue with the border guard while going through control, Muradyan noted, emphasizing that “as a rule, it is tourists who suffer, and not some intruders.”

In his opinion, “the situation may reach the point of absurdity” and “passports will begin to be confiscated en masse from Russians.” He assured that “ATOR is thinking about how to bring the problem to the federal border service.”

At the end of last year, the government introduced new rules for checking foreign passports for counterfeits or false information and instructed the FSB border service, units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Foreign Affairs to seize documents with violations. Among the reasons for this:

• discrepancy between the owner’s personal data and those contained in the databases of the specified departments or other federal government agencies, as well as in the records of issued foreign passports;
• discrepancy in information about citizenship;
• expiration of the document;
• notes in border crossing stamps;
• physical damage to the document, its shabby appearance.

In addition, the publication recalls, the law obliges citizens who are not allowed to travel to leave their passports for safekeeping. The list of such persons includes those called up for military service, those who have access to state secrets, FSB employees, persons involved in criminal cases, bankrupts and others. The passport will be invalidated and confiscated if they decide to keep it.

Our publication previously reported: new issuance procedure consulates of foreign passports published by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs – refusal in the presence of an electronic summons. A project to change the procedure for issuing foreign passports was published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – a citizen of the Russian Federation will be refused to issue a document by consulates abroad after receiving an electronic summons. The reason for refusal may be conscription for military service. The document developed by the Russian Foreign Ministry was published on the federal portal of legal acts on May 24. In addition to electronic summonses, the reason for refusal to issue a passport abroad will be conscription for compulsory military service or assignment to alternative civilian service.

Source link