French citizen not allowed in Russia due to female sex indicated in passport

A male tourist from France got stuck in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport because of a mistake in his passport and Russian visa. He arrived in Russia last week, on Thursday’s night, and has been detained in the airport, as in his passport and visa was indicated that he is a woman, not a man. This was reported on the website of Association of Tour Operators of Russia /ATOR/ with reference to French newspaper Libération. “Patrick Samborski himself assures that he was not aware of this mistake and travelled with his passport many times to Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. never facing any kind of problems,” ATOR quotes the publication. “The mistake was committed twice: when I received the passport in Grenoble prefecture and the second time when issuing a visa in Marseille,” Libération quotes the tourist. “Customs officers say that I’m an illegal here and must prove that I’ve changed sex. Today in the morning a staff member of Aeroflot took away my passport. Now they cannot tell where it is. I’m afraid they’ve already lost it. I cannot even get my luggage and change into other clothes. I arrived dressed in shorts and barefoot,” claims Patrick Samborski to INO TV. “An anonymous French diplomatic source reported that the French consulate has already got into touch with Russian authorities in order to solve the problem. The tourist is afraid he should go back to France to change the passport. In this case he will have to wait for the invitation from Russia and the visa once again,” the TV channel added.