Paul
Goble
Staunton, November 16 – The Kremlin
will not violate the Russian Constitution’s guarantee that Russians have the
right to travel abroad and thus erect a new “iron curtain,” Andrey Shipilov
says. Instead, it will take steps that will make it impossible for Russians to
travel abroad without specifically saying so.
And those steps, some already taken
and many more now being discussed, will have the same effect, albeit allowing
Russian officials plausible deniability. And thus, the founder of the
Anti-Prize of the Runet, one should begin to speak of a “Kevlar Curtain, a
harmless fabric” few will be able to get through (http://opinion.platfor.ma/kevlarovyi-zanaves/).
Russians routinely say that the
right to travel abroad is one of the things they value most from the collapse
of the Soviet system: that right is even enshrined in the country’s
constitution. And any direct attempt to annul that right would set off a storm
of protests even though few have actually made use of it.
Consequently, the Kremlin which
wants to do just that has adopted a strategy which will make it all but
impossible for most Russians to travel abroad but allow the constitutional “right”
to do so to remain untouched, Shipilov says, another example of the duplicitous
way in which the current Russian regime operates.
Moscow is raising the prices of air
tickets to foreign destinations by a variety of means, including the seizure of
Transaero, which had undercut Aeroflot – and hence the regime – by offering
combined air, hotel, and food tickets for less than the state airline charged
for just the flights. So, it had to be
closed down.
Then, it has taken other measures.
It shut down all flights to Egypt after the Sinai tragedy, claiming that other
countries had done the same. Absolutely untrue, Shipilov says. The UK and
France blocked flights over Sinai but not to Egypt. Clearly, Moscow wanted to
force its citizens to travel only within Russia.
And the Russian foreign ministry is
constantly putting out official declarations that “Russian citizens going
abroad face serious dangers” and making “recommendations (at least for the time
being they are only recommendations) that citizens contact [Russian] consulates
in other countries.”
Even taken together, he continues, “this
will not be any iron curtain.” Instead by slow and almost unnoticed steps, the
regime is tightening the controls on the population and reducing their
opportunities.” And it is doing so in ways that it will be able to deny that it
is doing anything unconstitutional.
It will point out that while people
have the right to travel abroad, they can’t be guaranteed that they will have
enough money to do so. And officials will say that the constitution doesn’t
limit the amount of money charged for a foreign passport: that can easily be
raised to the point that only the wealthiest will be able to afford it.
These same officials will insist
that “for [their] own security,” Russians must inform government offices of
their plans well in advance – and if they miss these deadlines, they will
simply have to delay or cancel their travel plans. And they are likely to introduce limits on
how much money Russians can take with them if they travel abroad.
Shipilov says that all this may seem
inconceivable, but none of it is more inconceivable that a war between Russia
and Ukraine would have appeared to everyone two years ago. Moreover, everything he mentions “not only is
being actively discussed not just in the corridors but at a completely official
level and in the open.”
Thus, the future of foreign travel by
Russians is anything but bright.
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