The Federation Council approved the law on the seizure of passports from Russians who are restricted from leaving the country

The Federation Council today voted for a law clarifying the rules on recognizing Russian passports as invalid, as well as on travel restrictions for certain categories of citizens.

It should be noted that the draft law provides for the transfer of the passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation for storage to the authority that issued this document, for those who are restricted from leaving the country due to conscription for military service or alternative civilian service. In this case, the passport must be handed over within five working days from the date of notification of the passport holder about the travel restriction.

The document will be stored “until the expiration of this time limit or the expiration of its validity.”

The same scheme provides for the transfer of the passports of those discharged from military service in the FSB for a period of up to five years from the date of dismissal from military service.

The grounds for the invalidity of a passport, as well as service and diplomatic passports, according to the law, will be the change in the owner of such passports of the last name, first name, patronymic, information about the date and place of birth, as well as a change in gender, along with the expiration of passports. In addition, a diplomatic or service passport may be invalidated if it is not returned without a good reason within five working days after the completion of a business trip, the law states.

Termination of the citizenship of the passport holder, cancellation of the decision to acquire citizenship, as well as the establishment, based on the results of the verification, of the fact of the absence of citizenship of the Russian Federation will become grounds for invalidating the passport.