L.M. AND OTHERS v. RUSSIA JUDGMENT 35 in compliance with the letter of the national law. Furthermore, in view of the succinct arguments about the situation in Syria submitted by the applicants during the court hearings, it could reasonably be said that during this initial period of detention, action was being taken against the applicants with a view to deportation, as it appears that at that stage the authorities were still investigating whether their removal would be possible (see Gebremedhin [Gaberamadhien] v. France, no. 25389/05, § 74, ECHR 2007-II). 148. However, in the statements of appeal submitted to the Kaluga Regional Court the applicants clearly indicated, with reference to the relevant Russian sources, that no expulsions to Syria were possible (see paragraph 12). On 27 May 2014 the Regional Court upheld the decisions to expel and detain them, without addressing the arguments concerning the possibility of expulsion. In a separate ruling, the Regional Court refused to endorse L.M.’s request to have the sanction of expulsion lifted, referring only to the administrative offence he had committed (see paragraph 14 above). In June 2014 the Federal Bailiff Service requested the same court to postpone the decisions to expel, indicating that the expulsion could not be carried out. The court again refused, referring to the absence of any legal grounds to postpone the expulsion (see paragraph 15-17 above). As a result, even though there existed sufficient material indicating that no action could be taken with a view to deportation, the applicants’ detention has been validated. L.M. and M.A. remain in detention to date, while A.A. escaped and has been at large since August 2014. Accordingly, in the circumstances of the present case the Court concludes that it cannot be said that after 27 May 2014 the applicants were persons “against whom action [was] being taken with a view to deportation or extradition”. Their detention effectuated after that date was not, therefore, permissible under the exception to the right to liberty set out in Article 5 § 1 (f) of the Convention. 149. The Court reiterates that under Russian law there are no provisions which could have allowed the applicants to bring proceedings for a judicial review of their detention pending expulsion, and no automatic review of detention at regular intervals (see Azimov, cited above, § 153, and the Court’s findings under Article 5 § 4 above). As a result, even though as noted above no real action has been taken since 27 May 2014 with a view to expulsion, the applicants remain in detention without any indication of the time-limit or conditions related to the possibility of review having been added. 150. Moreover, the Court has already pointed to the absence of clarity as regards the applicants’ situation after the expiry of the two-year period for the execution of decisions under Article 31.9 § 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences, since they will clearly remain in an irregular situation in terms of immigration law and could again be liable to expulsion