Doctors and medical workers in Russia have been banned from leaving the country for work-related trips because of "security reasons," including to nations in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a Russian-led political bloc, according to a letter they have received.
In the document, signed by St. Petersburg healthcare committee chairman Dmitry Lisovets and distributed Wednesday, the medical professionals were told that "until further notice, heads and employees of organizations subordinate to the health committee must refrain from business trips to foreign countries, including the territories of CIS member states," reports Newsweek, quoting Russia's state-run news agency Tass.
The CIS nations include Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
They were further urged to sign a paper "not to leave the Russian Federation, including the CIS countries" and that travel for personal reasons would require permission from a city governor and would only be allowed to the CIS nations, according to a local news outlet, Fontanka.
The committee hasn't said why the measure was being taken. After Russian President Vladimir Putin's speech on Sept. 21 announcing the mobilization of up to 300,000 troops, Russia's parliament said around 3,000 doctors and medical workers would be called up.
Those would include people who are graduates of military medical universities and trained in field medicine, doctors with combat experience, and graduates of civilian medical universities specializing in surgery, anesthesiology, and traumatology.
Other medical professionals would remain exempt from the conscription orders at this time, the government said.
Some doctors have gotten subpoenas from registration and enlistment offices, but others have gotten "reservations" from mobilization, meaning they are exempt from being sent to Ukraine, reports independent Russian news outlet Meduza and human rights activists.