In Russia, lawmakers are preparing a bill that could significantly restrict the rights of citizens living abroad who have been convicted on political grounds, including in administrative cases. According to the article, they may lose access to online state services, vehicle registration, remote banking services, and some consular assistance. It remains unclear whether those measures would include, for example, renewing a foreign passport.
The author draws a parallel with the situation of Russian emigres after the 1917 revolution and the Civil War. Many who left the country believed their departure would be temporary. A large number were effectively refugees, fleeing both possible Bolshevik reprisals and severe hunger.
The first major blow came with a decree in 1921 that stripped citizenship from people who stayed abroad without permission, took part in anti-revolutionary operations, or served in formations fighting Soviet power. After the USSR was created in 1924, many of those who had fled were definitively left stateless.
At the start of the 1920s, their interests were still partly protected by Russian embassies whose staff had been appointed by the previous authorities. These missions issued documents, certified papers, and provided legal and financial help. But as the Soviet Union gained international recognition, the old embassies were shut down, while Soviet missions generally refused to deal with the emigres.
At that point, the committee of Fridtjof Nansen under the League of Nations became crucial. Russian refugees began receiving Nansen passports confirming both identity and stateless status. The document made it possible to apply for visas, seek residence rights, and work on more favorable terms than many other foreigners, although it did not entitle holders to unemployment benefits and required special permission to move to another country.
Among those who held Nansen passports were Ivan Bunin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Marina Tsvetaeva. Even with that document, however, emigres faced constant bureaucratic obstacles. Vladimir Nabokov wrote that every attempt to obtain or renew a visa became an exhausting ordeal, and described the Nansen passport itself as a paper that made moving from one country to another exceptionally difficult.