Russian activists who condemn their country’s war of aggression against Ukraine have had their IDs revoked. ID cards are required within Russia, while a passport is required to cross the border – unless going to Commonwealth of Independent States countries.
After the start of the war in Ukraine and the subsequent mobilization in Russia, many Russians fled to those countries with only an identity card. According to the estimates of the Russian portal “Bel”, more than 110 thousand Russians found shelter in Armenia alone.
Omsk Civic Organization co-founders Danil Chebikin and Richard King were the first to report that their ID cards had been revoked. The Omsk civic organization condemns the problems in its city, protests against the war in Ukraine and deals with the fight against corruption. The organization is classified as “extremist” by the Russian authorities.
These two activists fled Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. After a while, these men from Omsk no longer had access to their Russian banking apps and SIM cards. Later, on the website of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, they learned that the authorities had canceled their identity cards. And this is not an isolated case.
No identity card, no passport
In an interview with DW, Chebikin and King said that without identity cards they could not give their lawyer any power of attorney. He is representing their interests in a Russian court, where activists are trying to challenge Russian authorities’ classification of the Omsk Citizens’ Association as an “extremist” and a “foreign agent”. Chebikin adds that now he has neither a valid identity card nor a passport.
Problems with their identity cards arose after they contacted the Russian embassy in Armenia to apply for passports. Chebikin was informed that his identity card had been “replaced with a new one”.
Activist Olesija Krivtsova from Arkhangelsk also wanted to apply for a passport, after which her identity card was also declared invalid. In Russia, she is on the list of “terrorists and extremists” due to accusations of “discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation” and “justifying terrorism”. The young woman was arrested in 2023, but managed to escape from house arrest in Norway, where she now works as a journalist.
Krivtsova told DW that she found out about the removal of her identity card by chance. She wanted to check the status of the document after finding out what problem her colleagues from Omsk were having.
“Four months ago, everything was fine. Then I went to the Russian consulate and the employee scanned my ID card. The activist suspects that they canceled her identity card because of the unusual signature on the document. “When I received it, I did “I want to sign it, but I put the word freedom and the symbol of pacifism under the document”, she says, but this cannot be the reason for removing the ID card, her lawyers claim the reason for the cancellation, it must be a lawsuit is filed in Russia.
Reasons for cancellation of documents
Russian authorities give a formal reason for canceling ID cards, for example, “that the document contains false information,” says Maksim Olenichev, a lawyer for the Russian human rights project Perviy Odel. The community of lawyers and journalists defends citizens unjustly accused of crimes against the state in Russia.
Olenichev points out that without a valid Russian identity card, it is impossible to conduct transactions in Russia, including money transfers or real estate sales. Without an identity card, citizens of Russia cannot get a passport, which they need for further travel and stay in other countries.
The former adviser of the Russian mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Boris Bondaryev, who opposes the war in Ukraine, believes that the removal of Russian identity cards has not yet acquired a systematic character. However, he points out that especially the regional authorities in the Russian Federation use this method of repression. The former diplomat does not rule out the possibility that in the future it will also be extended to other opposition parties.
