No income in Russia, no property deals, no passports. The new restrictions facing Russians who left

Who would be affected

The restrictions and bans would apply to anyone who has left Russia and has a criminal conviction under any article of the Criminal Code. A conviction that has entered into legal force would serve as the trigger for imposing the restrictions.

The same measures would apply to people who fail to pay fines under politically motivated articles of Russia’s Code of Administrative Offenses. These include:

• the “foreign agent” articles (used against journalists, activists, and organisations the state labels as acting under “foreign influence”);

• participation in the activities of an “undesirable organisation”;

• calls to violate Russia’s territorial integrity;

• “discrediting” the Russian army (widely used against people who criticise the war in Ukraine);

• calls for sanctions against Russia.

What the restrictions would look like

Frozen bank accounts and blocked banking apps. Banks would be required to cut off access to mobile apps and online banking so that the person cannot transfer money.

A special ruble account for all Russian income. Any money earned or received in Russian, including pensions and other state payments, transfers from organisations or private individuals, would be routed to a special ruble account. Funds could only be debited from it to pay fines owed to the state budget.

A partial exception for family. Close relatives of émigrés who have no income of their own could be assigned a monthly allowance drawn from the person’s own frozen funds.

No real estate deals, no car registration. Convicted émigrés would also be barred from registering as entrepreneurs or obtaining self-employed status.

A ban on notarial acts. No notarial action could be performed on behalf of a person who has left the country with a conviction or unpaid political fine. Nothing could be done under their power of attorney. The person would be unable—either personally or through a representative—to sell an apartment, accept an inheritance, grant power of attorney to a relative, or sign any document.

No access to Gosuslugi, Russia’s key government services portal, meaning the person could not, for example, file an application or request an official certificate.

Consular services would also be off-limits

Part of the planned amendments refers to Russia’s consular statute. Among other things, émigrés with fines or convictions under political articles would face the following bans:

• No new foreign-travel passports (for those with criminal convictions, this ban already existed);

• No marriage registration or name changes at Russian consulates;

• No certification of transactions, wills, or powers of attorney.

When the bills were first introduced, Vasily Piskaryov, chairman of the Duma commission behind them, defended the measures as a response to “politically motivated” refusals by NATO countries to extradite suspects. “Westerners actively use the evaders dependent on them in anti-Russian activities,” Piskaryov claimed, conflating political activists with “terrorists, murderers, corrupt officials, fraudsters, bankers who fled with depositors' money, builders who left thousands of homebuyers without apartments, and also those who involved children in committing illegal acts.”

According to Piskaryov, in the first 11 months of 2025 various countries refused to hand over 109 people to Russia, while the year before they did not satisfy 102 extradition requests.