True, only in Russia and not for everyone
From January 1, 2004, the old Soviet passport expires for Russian citizens and the season of fines begins. For former USSR citizens who have lived in Russia for at least a year, the “red-skinned passport” will cease to be valid only on January 1, 2006.
Soviet passports of the 1974 model will remain valid in Russia until January 1, 2006 for certain categories of citizens. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov signed the corresponding resolution. As explained in the Russian Interior Ministry, the Soviet passport will not cease to be valid from the new year only for former USSR citizens who have lived in Russia for at least a year and whose passport bears a registration stamp no later than November 1, 2002, and who themselves are stateless persons. In other words, these are people who lived in the union republics, did not take citizenship there after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and now live in the territory of Russia.
In addition, the validity of the old passport has been extended for citizens of former union republics who returned to live in Russia before July 1, 2002 and have not received Russian citizenship status. According to Interior Ministry officials, from the new year these persons will not be subject to punishment for lacking a new Russian passport. Within two years, until January 1, 2006, they must go through the procedure of obtaining Russian citizenship and obtaining a new Russian passport.
Thus, the government resolution will affect at most 5 million people - according to experts, that is exactly how many people with Soviet passports who have not yet become Russian citizens live in the country. On November 13, 2003, President Putin signed amendments to the law “On Citizenship”, which greatly simplify the acquisition of Russian citizenship for most of them.
All the rest – that is, actual Russian citizens – are not affected by the passport extension, and they face inspections and fines. So, according to Russian Interior Ministry workers, Russian citizens who have not managed to exchange their old passport for a new one within the allotted time will be subject to a fine of 100 rubles (1 minimum monthly wage under the Administrative Code). Although, as the ministry says, there are relatively few such people: only about 1 million people have not acquired new passports, which is less than one percent of the total number of Russian citizens that the passport reform should affect. These are mainly people who are away, i.e., far from their main place of residence.
In the remaining time, those who have not yet done so will not have time to get new passports. The fact is that passport offices throughout the country did not accept documents for exchange during the past week. They resumed work only on Monday, December 8. Before the New Year, passport offices will definitely not work. In the remaining week, there is practically no hope of getting a new passport – it usually takes a month to make one.
So far, the Interior Ministry has no special instructions regarding the collection of fines from Russian citizens who have not obtained new passports. The ministry is quite loyal to the president's initiatives (Vladimir Putin was the initiator of extending the validity of old passports). But if the order to collect fines does come, the police will take money not only from late Russian citizens, but also from former USSR citizens who fall into the preferential category. Most likely, ordinary patrol officers, as usual, will not miss the chance to take advantage of ignorance of the rules that the government has established for beneficiaries.