The heads of the Internal Affairs Departments, who have been commissioned by the Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev to monitor the implementation of his order concerning the undesirability of exit of the policemen abroad, decided to secure themselves and collected the foreign passports of their subordinates. Both policemen in regions, and the staff of the Moscow police became restricted to travel abroad.

A similar situation came about with the prosecution authorities. The fact that the passports has already been handed over to HR personnel departments by all officers, from the troop commanders to higher positions was communicated to RBC by several interlocutors working with the police. “The passports are being collected from the junior staff as well at the moment” – the employee of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Northern Administrative District of Moscow noted. According to his words, his colleagues from the South-Eastern Administrative District allowed only the employees who presented the paid receipts confirming the purchase of air tickets or tours until 18 April 2014 to keep their passports. “Everyone else must hand their documents over to the HR departments, they will be kept in strong boxes and given out in case their immediate supervisors sign the corresponding report” - the interlocutor clarified.

The employee of the Investigative Department of the MIA earlier told to RBC that the new director Aleksandr Savenkov has not signed any report of this kind after his appointment in mid-May. “I know that the situation is even tougher in regions, all foreign passports has long been collected, and those who dare to oppose have hard times” - the source from the Moscow police told to RBC. “My colleagues from Ivanovo, Kursk, Orel and Kaliningrad told me about this”.  The practice of collecting foreign passports and keeping them at the location of workplace also affected the employees of the prosecutor’s office. This was communicated by the Head of Human Rights Association “Agora” Pavel Chikov via Twitter. “Some refused to obey and wait for dismissal” - he reported. “I know that the Prosecutor General’s Office sent instructions to several regions, the subordinates of regional prosecutors are introduced to these decisions, and they of prosecutor’s offices are acquainted with those against signed receipt” – Chikov explained to RBC.

The Directorate of Information and Public Relations of the Prosecutor General’s Office refused to comment on this information. The source of RBC in the supervisory agency confirmed the existence of such instructions. According to his words, the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning the undesirability of exit of the citizens to the countries having  agreements on mutual criminals extradition  concluded with the USA related to all citizens of the Russian Federation, but the law enforcement agencies treated it with the highest responsibility. The information on dismissals in the Prosecutor General’s Office was not confirmed by the source. “I do not think there will be many applications for that reason, especially since the ban is of temporary nature” - the prosecutor's office employee stressed. In early May the ban on travel to 108 countries having agreements on mutual criminals extradition concluded with the USA was announced to all employees of the Federal Security Service (FSS).

The officers are allowed to travel only to 27 states. The countries allowed to the employees of law enforcement officers include popular tourist destinations - Vietnam, China, Tunisia, Morocco, UAE, Maldives, Cambodia and Indonesia. Prosecutors and policemen can also go to the abovementioned countries, but every time they want to travel they will have to ask for permission of their immediate supervisors in order to get their passports back.

 

Sources: http://top.rbc.ru