L.M. AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 37 acts or instances of contact designed to dissuade or discourage applicants from pursuing a Convention remedy. The fact that an individual has actually managed to pursue his application does not prevent an issue arising under Article 34: should the Government’s action make it more difficult for him to exercise his right of petition, this amounts to “hindering” his rights under Article 34 (see Akdivar and Others v. Turkey, 16 September 1996, §§ 105 and 254, Reports 1996-IV). The intentions or reasons underlying the acts or omissions in question are of little relevance when assessing whether Article 34 of the Convention has been complied with; what matters is whether the situation created as a result of the authorities’ act or omission conforms to Article 34 (see Paladi v. Moldova [GC], no. 39806/05, § 87, 10 March 2009). 157. The Court has already found in a number of cases that measures limiting an applicant’s contact with his representative may constitute interference with the exercise of his right of individual petition (see, for example, Shtukaturov v. Russia, no. 44009/05, § 140, 27 March 2008, where a ban on lawyer’s visits, coupled with a ban on telephone calls and correspondence, was held to be incompatible with the respondent State’s obligations under Article 34 of the Convention). The Court has, however, accepted that compliance by a representative with certain formal requirements might be necessary before obtaining access to a detainee, for instance for security reasons or in order to prevent collusion or perverting the course of the investigation or justice (see Melnikov v. Russia, no. 23610/03, § 96, 14 January 2010). At the same time, excessive formalities in such matters, such as those that could de facto prevent a prospective applicant from effectively enjoying his right of individual petition, have been found to be unacceptable. Where an applicant’s representative, an NGO lawyer, was required to produce a court decision admitting her to act as counsel, such admittance being within the discretionary powers of the trial or appeal judge, this constituted an interference with the exercise of his right of individual petition (see Zakharkin v. Russia, no. 1555/04, § 158, 10 June 2010). By contrast, where the domestic formalities were easy to comply with and the applicant concerned had access to other representatives and the resulting delay in meetings was not excessive, no issue arose under Article 34 (see Lebedev v. Russia, no. 4493/04, §§ 119, 25 October 2007). 158. Turning to the present case, the Court observes that the applicants were represented before the Court Ms N. Golovanchuk, a lawyer practising in Moscow. It agrees with the Government that it appears that no other meetings with her were requested or denied, except one which took place on 17 December 2014. 159. At the same time, the Court remarks that in their communication with the domestic authorities and their representative before the Court the applicants relied not only on the meetings with their representative before