Blogger, daughter detained at Koltsovo Airport over passport

Yekaterinburg blogger Alexandra Kotskaya and her young daughter faced detention at the border control zone of Koltsovo Airport. The incident occurred when the family was returning from Kazakhstan. Officers did not let them through because the child presented a birth certificate, not a passport. New rules requiring a passport for travel abroad came into force on January 20, 2026.

Kotskaya published a video describing the situation. According to her, she behaved calmly but encountered rude treatment. «We did not break the law, we came to our country with documents, and we were simply kicked out from passing control when I started asking: »How long do we have to wait?« Without shouting, without bad words, and certainly without swearing. A person came who started threatening me that he would lock me and Eva in a room for those with document problems. And I stood and said: »Tell me, how long do we have to wait? We have a small child, we have no food, water will run out, there is no charger for the heater,«» the blogger said.

In official clarifications from the migration service of the Russian Interior Ministry (MVD), it is stated that children under 14 who left the country on a birth certificate before January 20, 2026, can return on the same document. Kotskaya and her family left Russia on January 17, that is, before the new rules took effect. The reasons for the difficulties at the border remain unclear.

To clarify the circumstances, a request has been sent to the press service of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Border Directorate for Chelyabinsk Region. Alexandra Kotskaya intends to file a complaint about the officers« actions. She was particularly outraged by the phrase of one of them: »I tell him (the border control officer): «Do you understand that we are Russian citizens, we returned home with all documents. We left on a birth certificate when there was no law! Everyone let us through, and now we can»t return home?« And he said: »Your citizenship means nothing.« For this phrase at least, I will file a complaint.»