The children of high-ranking Russian officials, FSB generals, billionaires, and friends of Vladimir Putin have traveled abroad, particularly to Europe, on diplomatic passports, The Insider has reported.
According to the publication, the children of Sergei Shoigu, Dmitry Medvedev, and Mikhail Mishustin have or had such passports. Such documents were used by billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Alisher Usmanov, Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, presidential aide and member of the Ozero cooperative Andrey Fursenko, and ROC head Kirill Gundyaev.
In addition, The Insider found that FSB generals Alexander Bortnikov, Sergei Beseda, Sergei Korolev, and Alexei Sedov had managed to fly to France and Switzerland on diplomatic passports before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Formally, a diplomatic passport is an official document. Civil servants can fly on it only on business trips, and upon returning, they must hand it over to the HR department. But this rule does not apply to everyone, of course. Travel of particularly important persons on a diplomatic passport to the Cote d’Azur has always been looked down upon,” a former Russian government official told the publication.