Tomorrow there will be a court hearing because I, as someone with a suspended sentence, am being denied an international passport.
This is a problem affecting hundreds of thousands of people, because our state has essentially made it a general rule not to issue international passports to anyone in cases where there is even a theoretical possibility of refusal. In other words, instead of the legal principle of "generally permitted, but may be denied if there are grounds," the Russian reality is: "forbidden, but may be allowed if you have connections (blat) or pay a bribe."
The case law of the ECHR (European Court of Human Rights) is completely unambiguous on this point, and we are relying on it. Here, I’m posting the motion filed with the court demanding that an international passport be issued; it may be useful if you have encountered, or may encounter, the same problem.