Today at 17:02
Russian officials are banned from travelling abroad. The ministers’ foreign passports were taken away. They have already started talking about visas – not only for entry but for leaving the country too. What is happening in Russia? Is the Iron Curtain no longer the past, but the near future?
DEPUTIES ‘ON A LEASH’
What couldn’t you see on social media? A deputy from Vologda Denis Dolzhenko posted a photo not from the regional Duma and not from a meeting with voters. He’s having fun in Dubai. He also posted his jogging there. And signed the photo.
Warmed up – in the sense, flew to warmer climes. But the deputy from Kursk, Maxim Vasiliev, sends greetings from sunny Mexico, wishing everyone ‘a lot of money and good mood.’ And if these are deputies of the regional level, then one can imagine where deputies of the State Duma spend their leisure time. That’s just for all of them the mood was spoiled. Now they are forbidden to travel abroad! In the secret recommendations, which were received on the ground from the Kremlin, there is an instruction to “refrain” from travelling “in such a difficult time for the country.”
And this whole story is not just about relaxation. It is about the Iron Curtain, with which Russia is increasingly fenced off from the world.
The Kremlin forbade ministers and heads of departments to leave Moscow! Officials with a lower rank (including employees of the Presidential Administration of Russia) have their foreign passports taken away, our sources in Russia share. We also found out that for all those Russians who have received access to state secrets for work, travelling abroad is only possible with special permission from the FSB. And only in a certain list of countries. Without a special mark in the electronic system, the border guards will not let them out!
If we open the regulatory documents, we see that the head of the Kremlin administration, the prime minister, ministers and their deputies, the prosecutor general, the chairmen of the Investigative Committee, the Accounts Chamber, the Central Election Commission, and governors are admitted to state secrets in Russia. All deputies of the State Duma and judges. But in fact, not only they became restricted to travel abroad; the list is much longer. Admission was often issued to employees of the press services, to secretaries, and to technical employees … Now they are not only banned from going to Turkey – they cannot even go to Uzbekistan without the FSB’s go-ahead. Assistants to State Duma deputies were also banned from leaving Russia. When applying for a vacation at the Human Resources department, it is now required to manually write on the form that “no vacation abroad is planned”.
Furthermore. Perhaps no one would object to restrictions for officials, but they want to be extended to the whole country of Russia. A draft law has already been submitted to the State Duma obliging those who cross the border by car to reserve a date and time. That is, to indicate in advance who and where is going; on what car, and who are its passengers. The innovation can start working from March 1. Why not an iron curtain? After all, who guarantees that at the checkpoint they will not wait for those who have annoyed the system with something, since they themselves warned about the plans?
This bill caused so much noise that its author, the head of the Duma Committee on Transport, had to explain himself: he meant only freight traffic. One could believe it if the very text that the deputy proposed did not say in black and white – “the passage of vehicles belonging to Russian citizens is carried out on a reserved date and time.” That is, maybe now the authorities will “give it back”, but initially it was about all citizens without exception, and not just truckers.
Russian lawyer Mark Feygin says that a little more time will pass, and Russia will completely close the borders. Usually, visas are required to enter the country. But in Russia, they are seriously thinking of doing the opposite. To control exit.
There is no doubt that the border will be closed. The process is already underway, now there are more categories that are restricted to travel abroad – these are officials, the military, special services, judges and others, in general, this is 20-25 million people, – Mark Feigin, Russian lawyer
The question arises – what is this all about? Surely, for Russians not to look for a ‘better life’ abroad. Obviously – so that they do not run away from mobilisation, but it is carried out non-stop. Thirdly, it is easier to control the people. Like, “What didn’t you see there (abroad).” And fourthly, why should judges, deputies and officials tease ordinary people on social networks… But there are also fears in the Kremlin that officials will be intercepted, detained or tried to be recruited by Western intelligence services during the war. In the State Duma, they even seriously suggested … chipping those officials who travelled or are travelling abroad. To be honest, when I first read this, I thought it was a prank or a fake. But it turned out to be for real. An initiative of members of the Duma Security Committee. And here’s how it sounds.
From the proposals of the deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Khamzaev: …to equip officials with satellite sensors for their own safety, since international counterintelligence works professionally, cynically …as well as intimidating and driving therm to commit certain crimes against their country.
The world has seen this before. Not “beacons”, of course, but departure according to the lists. In the Soviet Union, it was possible to cross the borders of the country only with special permission. Then, in order to leave, it was necessary to go through so many interviews – in district committees, regional committees, and communist party cells. You should have known by name and patronymic all the general secretaries and members of the Central Committee of the communist party of the USSR. All charters of the Komsomol and the Communist Party. Try not to tell them during the interview! The special services checked the family of the traveller up to the seventh generation. Well, of course, the ‘unreliable’ persons were banned from leaving.
And now Russia is approaching the same result by leaps and bounds. Only if earlier they asked about loyalty to the party, now they will clearly ask what you think about the war. Yes, and they will definitely look at ‘relatives abroad.’ And this is already happening.
Here, the world-famous director Alexander Sokurov was detained on the border of Russia and Finland in the Leningrad Region and was not released from the country. And the director just went to a conference in Milan. And this is despite the fact that Sokurov is a member of the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia. This is how the director himself described the situation.
Alexander Sokurov, film director: The border guard shift supervisor, without looking into my eyes, tried to tell me that the order of Prime Minister Mishustin, who forbids people like me from crossing the border, is against my departure.
Most likely, it “backfired” that a few months ago, during a meeting of the Human Rights Council, Sokurov said that Russia ‘needed to be changed.’ And he became banned to leave the country.
A very significant trend, – says lawyer Mark Feigin. Everything goes to the fact that in Russia there will be a special body that will issue exit permits.
Mark Feigin, Russian lawyer: If you get a permit, go get a visa and go wherever you want… And the border guards will check the availability of the permit. There will be another controlling agency.
This is where Prigozhin fussed. The one who founded the Wagner PMC.
He proposes to fix everything by law. It is taboo for deputies and officials to leave Russia while the so-called special military operation is underway. And what do you think… The State Duma authorities replied that Prigozhin’s idea ‘deserves attention.’
But even if it doesn’t come to a complete ban on leaving, leaving Russia is becoming more and more difficult due to the restrictions imposed by other countries. Here, for example, is what the authorities say in Poland.
Andrzej Duda, President of Poland: I am ready for the iron curtain to be rebuilt if we are dealing with an aggressive state on the eastern border that wants to kill its neighbours, that wants to take their land, that wants to take away their freedom. So I’m willing to build an iron curtain to the skies just to keep them away from us.
And this is not just an image, we are talking about a real fence, an analogue of the ‘Trump wall’ on the US-Mexico border. By the way, Finland is already starting to build it. Multimeter, with sensors and barbed wire. Construction will take approximately 3-4 years and require hundreds of millions of euros of investments.
But apparently, this does not bother anyone in the Kremlin, on the contrary, it will simplify the task. But in parallel – in Russia they want to cut off all those who criticise the government. United Russia MP Oleg Morozov proposed to ban the return to Russia of its citizens who ‘conduct subversive activities’ – this is a quote. But it is clear that subversive activities in Russia now can be attributed to everyone.
And most likely it is not the politicians who are competing on who has the ‘more patriotic’ initiative, but the authorities are using their proposals as a ‘trial balloon.’ To feel out which restrictions will be ‘swallowed’, and which should not be introduced yet; how much patience does society have?
By the way, this needs to be discussed separately. After all, it turned out that the official Russian sociology – which shows both high support for the authorities and Russian support for the war – operates with inflated numbers.
