14 ALPEYEVA AND DZHALAGONIYA v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT to avoid, as far as possible, cases of statelessness, the Council of Europe drew up the 1997 European Convention on Nationality. One of its principles, provided for in Article 4, is that “statelessness shall be avoided”. Article 6 provides that each State Party must facilitate in its internal law the acquisition of its nationality for stateless persons. Article 7, however, specifies that a State Party may not provide in its internal law for the loss of its nationality if the person concerned would thereby become stateless, with the exception of cases of acquisition of the nationality of the State Party by means of fraudulent conduct, false information or concealment of any relevant fact attributable to that person. 87. This Convention was signed by Russia on 6 November 1997 but has not been ratified. 88. On 15 September 1999 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted Recommendation No. R (99) 18 on the avoidance and reduction of statelessness. In particular, concerning the avoidance of statelessness as a consequence of loss of nationality, it recommends, in so far as relevant, the following: “C. Avoiding statelessness as a consequence of loss of nationality ... c. In order to avoid, as far as possible, situations of statelessness, a State should not necessarily deprive of its nationality persons who have acquired its nationality by fraudulent conduct, false information or concealment of any relevant fact. To this effect, the gravity of the facts, as well as other relevant circumstances, such as the genuine and effective link of these persons with the state concerned, should be taken into account; ...” THE LAW I. JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS 89. The Court considers that, pursuant to Rule 42 § 1 of the Rules of Court, the applications should be joined, given their common factual and legal background. II. ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 8 OF THE CONVENTION 90. The respective applicants complained under Article 8 of the Convention that the seizure of the first applicant’s Russian passport and the refusal to exchange the second applicant’s Russian passport had de facto deprived them of their constitutional rights. In particular, without a valid