Russia has suspended applications for new passports valid for 10 years, TASS reports.

“Since February 2, the acceptance of applications for issuing foreign passports of the new model with electronic data carriers has been temporarily suspended. If you have already submitted documents for the issuance of a new international passport through the portal of public services, wait for the department’s response to the request and act according to the instructions in the response,” reads the message published on the Russian government portal. .

It also states that if the application for a new passport was not submitted through the State Services portal, the applicant must contact the migration service at the place of application submission.

The new measure came after the State Duma, the lower house of parliament in Moscow, on January 24 prepared several amendments to national legislation that would allow leaving the country only with an appointment to meet with the authorities.

The prepared changes provide, in particular, that people who want to leave Russia will be able to do so only by booking the date and time of crossing the border “through the state information system of electronic transport documents.”

Departure from Russia only by agreement

If passed, the legislative changes will affect cars owned by Russian citizens, as well as foreigners and stateless persons, and will apply to both carriers and individuals.

The document also states that if the amendments are adopted, the Russian government will establish a procedure that will include:

• list of documents required for booking;
• border crossing control;
• categories of vehicles that will be able to pass through checkpoints with priority;
• order of placement of vehicles along the road to ensure the possibility of movement along it.

The amendments, prepared by Russian MPs, state that the changes should come into effect on March 1, 2023 and could be applied until the same date next year. It is also provided that the authorities will be able to refuse the reservation only if the applicant does not provide the necessary documents and information.

Russia has declared that it will not close its borders

Russian officials have repeatedly assured that the authorities will not close the country’s borders after the decree on partial mobilization last September provoked a real exodus from Russia.

But the head of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, said that the authorities are creating lists of those who have left the country, and that they risk losing their cars left at the border in order to cross the border faster on foot at the border. checkpoints.

The changes, now being prepared by the Russian parliament, come amid growing signs that the authorities in Moscow are preparing a second wave of mobilization, which the Kremlin and the Russian Defense Ministry deny.

In addition, Russian high-ranking officials, including prominent members of the State Duma, began to make increasingly aggressive statements against those who left the country in recent months, proposing various measures to punish them.

Rumors of a new wave of mobilization intensified after President Vladimir Putin on December 21 approved an increase in the size of Russia’s armed forces by an additional 350,000.

Putin is due to make a speech on Thursday

Reuters notes that Russia’s president is expected to use Thursday’s celebration of the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany at Stalingrad to try to bolster Russia’s support for a “special military operation” in Ukraine.

He was due to give a speech in Volgograd, the southern Russian city that until 1961 was called “Stalingrad” and was the scene of the bloodiest battle of World War II.

This celebration comes at a time when Russian troops have been trying to advance in eastern Ukraine for several months, having so far failed to capture the key city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, despite the start of the offensive to capture it since the beginning of August last year.

Thousands of people lined the streets of Volgograd to watch the Victory Parade on Thursday, with fighter jets flying over the city and Russian tanks and armored vehicles passing by.

On Wednesday, the day before Putin’s visit, a new bust of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and two Russian generals who secured victory at Stalingrad, Georgy Zhukov and Alexander Vasylevsky, were unveiled in the city.

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