6 ALPEYEVA AND DZHALAGONIYA v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT certificate confirming that he was not registered in the Leninskiy District and there was no information about him in the archives either. 44. On 23 September 2010 the Krasnodar Region FMS informed the Kostroma Region FMS that its archives contained no information about the second applicant, and that it appeared to be impossible to question M. because she was absent from her place of residence. 45. On 27 September 2010 the Kostroma Region FMS issued a decision to the effect that the second applicant was not a Russian citizen. With reference to the certificate of 30 June 2010 issued by the FMS of the Rostov Region, the decision stated, in particular, that according to the enquiries carried out, the second applicant’s Russian passport had been issued in breach of the applicable rules. It further stated that it had proved impossible to obtain documentary evidence that the second applicant had been living in Russia on 6 February 1992, and the stamp in his passport only confirmed that he had been registered as resident in the Rostov Region from 15 February 2002 to 17 February 2010. The decision also noted that the database of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contained no information as to whether the second applicant had obtained Russian citizenship. Accordingly, the enquiries made had obtained no evidence that the second applicant had acquired Russian citizenship or that he had been living in Russia on 6 February 1992. 4. Court proceedings 46. The second applicant appealed to the Sverdlovskiy District Court of Kostroma against the refusal to exchange his passport. 47. At a hearing on 20 October 2010 a representative from the FMS of the Centralniy District of Kostroma stated, in particular: “On the basis of the written instructions from the FMS that there should be an urgent check on all passports previously issued to individuals not born in the territory of the Russian Federation, we sent a request for information to the FMS of the Rostov Region. The FMS of the Rostov Region sent a certificate confirming that the [second applicant’s] passport should be considered as having been issued in breach of the applicable rules. I sent a report stating that it was necessary to obtain corroboration that [the second applicant] either had or did not have Russian citizenship. The head of the FMS ... issued a decision to the effect that [the second applicant] was not a Russian citizen. [The second applicant] was invited to familiarise himself with that decision. [I]t was suggested that he apply for a residence permit and subsequently Russian citizenship, under a simplified procedure. In 2004 the FMS issued instructions for checks to be carried out only in respect of individuals who had applied to exchange their passports. [The second applicant] applied [to exchange his passport], and I discovered that he had not been born in the territory of the Russian Federation, and sent the request. [His] passport was not seized: the FMS did not issue instructions to this effect, so that people would not be left without [an identity] document.”