Russia’s Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled that any limitations on travel abroad by people with access to state secrets should depend on the sensitivity of classified information and not be decided formalistically.
This ruling came after Alexander Ilchenko, a serviceman who for four and a half years served at the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, filed suit with the Constitutional Court after the Federal Migration Service refused to give him a foreign-travel passport.
Ilchenko believes that this move violates his right for unrestricted mobility and his right to turn to international human rights defense institutions. Lower courts found the Federal Migration Service’s decision lawful.