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Russia Begins Denying Foreign Passports to Men as Mobilization Fears Grow
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Russian men subject to military registration have begun reporting refusals and delays in obtaining international passports, with some applicants told that restrictions imposed by military enlistment offices prevent them from leaving the country.
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According to The Moscow Times on September 9, one such case involved a 25-year-old Russian man named Konstantin, who applied for an international passport through Russia’s Gosuslugi state services portal.
Two weeks later, he received a notification saying that his application had been rejected because a military enlistment office had temporarily restricted his right to leave Russia.
Konstantin told the Russian conscription-rights organization School of the Conscript that he had last visited a military enlistment office while in the 10th grade and had received no subsequent notifications.
Other Russian men have reported similar problems. A Moscow resident told the outlet Mozhem Obyasnit that his passport application had been rejected because of his military-liable status. He said two acquaintances who were also subject to military registration had encountered the same issue.
Another applicant said his passport application, submitted in June, was later marked as suspended, forcing him to apply again and search for an available appointment at a government services center in another city. Russian travel-related online communities have also reported delays lasting more than a month.
Mikhail Liberov, a lawyer with School of the Conscript, said that a refusal to issue a passport is unlawful if a person has not been formally called up for military service and no conscription commission has issued a decision concerning them.
“An exit ban imposed for failing to appear in response to a military summons does not, by itself, provide grounds for refusing to issue a foreign passport. This should be appealed. The military enlistment office may explain it as a technical error, as such cases have occurred before,” Liberov said, according to The Moscow Times.
The reports come amid renewed speculation over whether Russia could expand military recruitment following the September State Duma elections.
The Economist previously reported, citing Kremlin-linked sources, that Russian authorities could seek another 300,000 to 400,000 people for the war against Ukraine without formally announcing a new mobilization campaign. Russia’s 2022 mobilization decree, under which approximately 300,000 people were called up, remains in force.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has rejected reports that another mobilization could be required, calling them “nonsense” and an “information attack.” “There is currently no scenario that would require mobilization. This is simply a deliberate information operation,” Putin said.
A day earlier, a 24-year-old Russian reservist was prevented from leaving the country after a military enlistment office imposed a temporary travel restriction through Russia’s electronic military registry. The man only learned about the ban during passport control in Krasnodar.
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