Chechnya’s Interior Ministry has begun refusing to issue foreign passports to residents younger than 30 if the applicants are not accompanied by older relatives. The agency said in response to a complaint by lawyer Alexander Nemov that the policy is intended to ensure that “the goals of a trip are not contrary to the interests of the Russian Federation,” according to the crisis group SK SOS.
The ministry cited a resolution passed by the Antiterrorism Committee of the republic’s Economic and Public Security Council in 2015 to justify the practice. According to Nemov, who is representing a Chechnya resident who was denied a passport, the policy is unlawful because it violates citizens’ right to freedom of movement, while the 2015 resolution has no legal bearing and violates existing law.