Russian authorities are increasing restrictions on international travel for officials, deputies and government employees, effectively lowering the “iron curtain” around them, RTRS reports.

According to the agency, these restrictions, which were introduced behind the scenes in 2022 and formalized at the end of 2023, have been tightened recently. The initiative comes from the FSB, which fears that officials may reveal state secrets or be arrested and extradited to the West. 

“You can’t go anywhere at all, even to Belarus or Uzbekistan for the May holidays,” shares one of the agency’s interlocutors. According to him, to cross the border, government employees need a special permit, which is issued only in exceptional cases. 

Thus, Russian authorities are seeking to prevent information leaks and potential risks to national security by effectively isolating their officials from international travel. 

Leave your passports, gentlemen, your adventure begins and ends here. The phrase “You can’t go anywhere at all, even to Belarus or Uzbekistan for the May holidays” sounds almost like a cry of despair, reminiscent of an isolated kingdom from fairy tales. But in these fairy tales there are no heroes, only involuntary figures frozen in their places.

And so, under the guise of protecting state secrets, Russian officials are now chained to their offices and bureaucratic labyrinths, deprived of even the slightest opportunity to enjoy the crimson sunset on the Uzbek steppes or the May breeze on the Belarusian lakes.

As Oscar Wilde so elegantly said, “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to ignore.” But, apparently, in this new Russian dramatic creation, they prefer to ignore not so much unnecessary details as freedom of movement.