16 ALPEYEVA AND DZHALAGONIYA v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT applicants had been deemed as never having acquired Russian citizenship. In particular, the competent authorities had found that their Russian passports had been issued in breach of the applicable rules. Furthermore, in Smirnova, cited above, the applicant had referred to particular circumstances to corroborate the practical problems in her everyday life caused by the lack of a passport. However, in the cases at hand, the applicants’ allegations were of a general and hypothetical nature. B. The applicants’ submissions 95. The first applicant contested the Government’s argument concerning the abuse of the right of individual petition. She emphasised that she had complained under Article 8 of the interference to her private life caused by the seizure of her Russian passport. In her view, the eventual issue of the new passport was of no relevance to her complaint. Furthermore, in the applicant’s view, the “simplified procedure” under which her new passport had been issued was not in accordance with the domestic law, and therefore she ran the risk of that passport being seized in the same manner as the old one. 96. The first applicant argued that the interference had not been “in accordance with the law”, which the respondent State had implicitly recognised by adopting amendments to the 2002 Russian Citizenship Act on 12 November 2012 (see paragraph 65 above). She further argued that it had not been “necessary in a democratic society” either. Having regard to the Government’s assertion that the applicants had failed to corroborate the impact of the lack of a valid passport on their everyday life, the first applicant submitted that a requirement to provide proof of such an impact would be excessive, as it stemmed directly from the domestic law. In particular, under Russian law, a person needed proof of identity in order to obtain employment, receive medical assistance, buy plane or train tickets, or receive a pension and other social benefits. A person also needed such proof in relation to bank transactions. Furthermore, without a valid identity document, a person ran the risk of being apprehended by the police. 97. The second applicant pointed out that he had eventually been granted Russian citizenship on the basis of Law no. 182 of 12 November 2012, which had introduced a number of amendments to the 2002 Russian Citizenship Act (see paragraph 65 above) and which had been adopted after his application had come before the Court. The second applicant maintained that the law had been adopted because there had been a large number of complaints, and also because of the Ombudsman’s efforts to highlight those complaints. 98. The second applicant further contested the Government’s argument that there had been no interference with his rights under Article 8. He pointed out that, although his passport had not been seized and he had not