USMANOV v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT which would prevent it from applying administrative removal as a sanction. The court dismissed the applicant’s argument concerning the adverse effect of the removal on his family situation, stating that a foreigner could not be exempt from compliance with Russian law on the grounds that his relatives were Russian nationals. 27. The applicant was immediately placed in a temporary detention centre for foreigners pending his administrative removal. He appealed against the court’s decision, arguing that his removal would be in breach of Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention. 28. On 11 December 2018 the Novgorod Regional Court upheld the decision in question. It stated that there was no evidence that the applicant’s removal from Russia would be in breach of Article 3 of the Convention. It also held that Article 8 of the Convention did not prevent States from controlling the entry and stay of foreigners in their territory. Furthermore, according to the court, that Article did not impose on the State an obligation to respect the choice of residence of spouses or to allow family reunification in its territory. V. INTERIM MEASURES AND STAY OF REMOVAL 29. On 10 December 2018 the Court granted the applicant’s request for interim measures under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court in connection with his complaints under Articles 3 and 8 and indicated to the Russian Government not to remove him to Tajikistan for the duration of the proceedings before the Court. 30. On 19 December 2018 the District Court ordered that the proceedings concerning the applicant’s removal be stayed for the duration of the proceedings before the Court. The applicant continued to be detained in custody. On unspecified dates he appealed against his detention. 31. On 21 December 2018 and on 22 May 2019 the Regional Court and the Supreme Court of Russia respectively dismissed the applicant’s appeals. 32. On an unspecified date in 2019 the applicant challenged the lawfulness of his continued detention in custody, but on 27 September 2019 the District Court declared that it was lawful. RELEVANT LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICE I. LEGAL FRAMEWORK A. Russian Citizenship Act (no. 62-FZ of 31 May 2002 33. Section 22 of the Act in its relevant part reads as follows: 5