From the MT:
"Soviet Citizen Finally Gets Russian Passport After 28 Years"
The Soviet dream has finally died, at least for one Siberian retiree who swapped her red ID from the communist era for a maroon Russian passport. The unnamed Omsk woman lived with outdated documents for 28 years since the Soviet collapse, the regional Interior Ministry branch spokesman told state media on Friday. The 63-year-old was unable to receive a pension or get official employment with her old documents, the state-run TASS news agency reported. She did not attempt to exchange her papers due to the risk of fine of up to 3,000 rubles ($46) that reportedly equals her monthly earnings. “She received a new passport this morning,” Omsk region’s Interior Ministry branch spokesman Alexei Komandykov told TASS. “She didn’t have to pay the fine, only a tax.” The woman received the passport as part of a regional amnesty program aimed at providing services to low-income citizens and homeless people, Komandykov said. Although no reliable statistics exist, the Civic Assistance Committee estimates that up to 350,000 Soviet passport holders may live in Russia.
^ This is pretty surprising considering you really can't do a thing in Russia without an internal passport. Any official can stop you anywhere at anytime and ask for your internal passport with official residence registration stamp inside it (or your International Passport, Migration Card and official Residence Stamp if your a foreigner.) FYI: Every Russian has to register themselves if they stay in any town throughout the country for 30 days or longer. Every foreigner has to register themselves if they stay in any town throughout the country for 7 days or longer.
Russia continued to issue Soviet International Passports until 2000 - - because they had a large supply leftover from before 1991 when the majority of the Soviet population were not legally allowed to own an International Passport. The Soviet internal passport was issued within Russia until 1997 though and 100% of Russian citizens had to, by law, have one and carry with them at all times. ^
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.