Two residents of the Russian city of Perm were turned back at the border and banned from leaving the country after failing to remove toxic hogweed from their country property, according to official authorities.
The landowners had been legally required to destroy all poisonous vegetation across a land plot measuring 15,000 square meters. However, the pair ignored the official warning and attempted to travel abroad for a holiday instead of clearing the weeds, leading border control officers to bar them from departing.
The press service of the regional management of the Federal Bailiff Service stated that placing a temporary restriction on the citizens' right to leave Russia successfully accelerated the pace of the required cleanup. The agency added that an officer issued official decrees lifting the travel ban after verifying that all the hogweed on the property had been eradicated.
Regulations on toxic weeds in Russia
Perm is a major urban center located along the Kama River near the Ural Mountains in eastern European Russia. Regional municipal codes in Russia require land owners to maintain their property and actively eliminate dangerous plant species.
Sosnowsky's hogweed is an aggressive invasive weed widespread across Russian regions. The plant produces toxic sap containing furocoumarins, which trigger severe photosensitivity in human skin, causing painful chemical burns and blisters upon exposure to sunlight. Russian authorities enforce strict mandatory clearing mandates to prevent the plant from spreading into inhabited areas.
The Federal Bailiff Service is the Russian federal agency tasked with enforcing court rulings and administrative orders. Bailiffs frequently execute international travel bans against individuals who have unfulfilled legal debts, unpaid administrative fines, or outstanding court-mandated land compliance duties.
Luggage inspection leads to perfume seizure
In a separate border incident detailed by authorities, an airline passenger flying into Russia from Tajikistan was detained at border inspection. Customs officers searching the passenger's luggage discovered 79 bottles of Turkish perfume weighing a total of 28 kilograms inside his suitcase.
