The French are useful and harmful: supervision of foreigners in Russia under Nicholas I. Milchina V

The famous historian of the Russian-French ties, Vera Milchin talks about the misadventures of the French subjects who came and lived in Russia in the reign of Nicholas I. The Russian Empire was a state of extremely isolationist, therefore, obtaining a Russian visa was associated with great difficulties and bureaucratic red tape, at the entrance to the country, foreigners were organized Inquiry with addiction and searches. Foreigners could not freely move around the country without preliminary permits, the secret police conducted vigilant supervision behind them and could send any "harmful" of the Frenchman from the country on the basis of an anonymous denunciation.
The author builds his fascinating narrative based on valuable historical material: the memoirs of French travelers, private correspondence, reports of diplomats, the archives of the third branch, which shed light on some sources of the state of the state to "foreign influence".
Vera Milchina is a historian of Russian -French ties, the leading researcher at the Institute of Higher Humanitarian Research of the Russian State University and the school of relevant humanitarian research of the RANEPA,