Russia will no longer issue passports to those mobilized by the military, the Russian government news portal said on Wednesday.
“If a citizen has already been called up for military service or if he has received a summons (for mobilization or conscription), he will be denied an international passport,” it can be read this Wednesday on the information portal.
The announcement of restrictions on the issuance of international passports comes as many Russians fear a border closure amid a campaign to mobilize reservists to send new troops to Ukraine.
This measure has a direct impact on the movements of the Russians. They need an international passport to travel to most foreign countries. However, they can go to Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan with their only internal passport, equivalent to an identity document.
Moscow wants to stop the exodus
Since the launch last week of this described “partial” mobilization, tens of thousands of Russians have traveled to neighboring countries, including Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
The exodus is such that the Russian security services installed a “mobile” mobilization office on the border with Georgia on Tuesday to intercept those seeking to escape from the army.
President Vladimir Putin has assured that only those who already have military experience or skills “relevant” to the army will be mobilized.
But the mobilization of the elderly, sick and students, supposedly exempt, provoked protests, as observers suspected that the authorities were mobilizing much more than announced.
Source: BFM TV
