Dual citizenship and army service

[Josh Wilson]

While one cannot give definite answers to legal questions concerning Russia,
my two cents would be the following: 

If he is granted the visa, tell him to bring the American passport and leave
the Armenian passport at home. 

The possibility of the Russian government tracking him down while he is in
Russia to send him to Armenia is very low. The possibility of the average
militsia on the street figuring out that he is an Armenian citizen, unless
the student outright tells them he is one (and he should definitely not do
this), is near non-existent. 

Also, legally, if he is traveling on the basis of an American passport, he
is fully an American citizen in Russia and the embassy should help him
should the militsia give him any trouble. I would highly recommend he get a
cell phone while he's here and program the embassy number into it in case of
emergencies (always a good idea anyway). Furthermore, Russia, by issuing the
visa to the American passport has agreed that he is an American citizen on
their soil.

So, unless this is a coordinated and potentially very messy effort by the
Russian government to lure him to Russia specifically to have the FSB arrest
him and send him to Armenia to increase the Armenian ground forces by one
person, I would say he should be fine. 

We've had students before who were of military age and technically still
Russian citizens (w/ dual American citizenship) come to Russia to visas
issued to American passports - so far, no problems. 

Beyond that, I would highly recommend he read the following info: 
http://www.sras.org/news2.phtml?m=674 and that he make sure he can easily
point out his visa and legal registration and the expiration dates on both. 

Best, 

JW

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Valery Belyanin
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 6:46 AM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] Dual citizenship and army service

Dear All,
A 21 year-old student with newly acquired American citizenship is hoping to
visit Moscow.

He was born in Armenia, moved to the US at age 13, received US citizenship
last year, but never renounced his Armenian citizenship (he had no idea that
this is required). The US State Department has warned him against traveling
to Russia, stating that he could be arrested and sent to serve in the
Armenian army.

Assuming that the Russian embassy gives him a visa (which will be in his
American passport), does anyone have any experience that would either
assuage or confirm his fears of traveling to Moscow?

Thanks in advance.

Dawn Seckler, University of Pittsburgh

Valery Belyanin, Resident Director of the Moscow program of the University
of Pittsburgh at Moscow State University 2007

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------