The Kremlin confirms that Russia has tightened travel restrictions.
Russian security authorities confiscated passports from government officials and managers of state-owned companies to prevent them from traveling abroad, reports a financial newspaper Financial Times (you will switch to another service) (FT).
The FT says the reason for the seizures is the paranoia of the president Vladimir Putin in the administration about the leaks and defections made by the country’s civil service leadership to the West. According to the newspaper, there is widespread suspicion in the Kremlin and the Russian security service FSB about the loyalty of the Russian civil service leadership.
FT bases its information on several anonymous sources. In addition to them, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to the FT that Russia has tightened restrictions on outbound travel for some individuals who work in “sensitive” areas.
According to Peskov, Russia has paid attention to travel restrictions since it started its “special operation”, i.e. its war of aggression in Ukraine.
The tradition of confiscating the passports of civil servants in Russia goes back to the time of the Soviet Union. Russian ministries and state-owned companies have safes reserved for passports, where employees can be told to keep their passports. However, confiscation of passports was rare until the start of the war of aggression.
Travel restrictions differ considerably between different government agencies. In some workplaces even mid-level employees are required to surrender their passports, while in some places high-ranking officials are also given permits to travel.
For example, in one major state-owned industrial company, management-level employees are not allowed to travel more than two hours by car from Moscow without a separate permit, FT says.
The FSB has also demanded that some people who are already retired surrender their passports.
Former Russian central bank official interviewed by FT Alexandra Prokopenko says that the FSB is no longer only confiscating passports from high-security employees, but passports are being taken more and more indiscriminately on the basis that the employee has had access to classified information.
– In principle, any information can be kept secret, so FSB officials just tell you that you have secret information. What it is? Why is it secret and who decides it? No one knows, says Prokopenko.