Russian officials and civil servants are being asked to hand over their passports due to concerns they will leave the country.
While no universal policies have been made public, it has become increasingly common for the Russian government to seize the passports of any official it deems a flight risk, according to a recent investigation by Current Time and Radio Liberty.
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The emblem of the Russian Federation drawn on the passport. A woman shows her Russian passport.
The investigation, reported by the Moscow Times, found that travel restrictions for government-adjacent Russians may vary by person and by position: Those less directly connected to the Kremlin can resign their position to keep their passports.
Because travel bans are a tacit policy not based on law, exceptions and accommodations reportedly exist.
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The Grand Kremlin building, left, and the Annunciation Cathedral in Moscow, Russia on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. Russia announced the start of a withdrawal of some forces after exercises that raised American and European alarm about a possible military assault on Ukraine. (Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
For example, getting permission to travel to a country allied with Russia is possible for less politically prominent individuals.
The investigation found that Kremlin employees were unlikely to be allowed out of Russia.
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Russian Marina flashes her Russian passport as she poses for a photo in a Belgrade hostel.
Wealthy Russians have increasingly sought to avoid being drafted into the Russian president by Vladimir Putin invasion of Ukraine requiring citizenship in the Caribbean nation of Grenada.
Russians with the financial means to do so have applied for citizenship in Grenada through an investment initiative that allows an applicant to receive a passport to the country for a minimum investment of $150,000 or a government-approved real estate purchase at cost of $350,000, Bloomberg reported it.
Andrew Mark Miller of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
