Sergeant sues over travel ban because he has a Russian wife

A BRITISH Army sergeant has been told he can take his case to an employment tribunal after he was banned from serving overseas because his wife is Russian.

Robert Ritchie was blocked from going to Cyprus with the rest of his regiment due to “special security regulations” relating to his spouse Alisa.

A tribunal, which determined whether Robert could bring his case, heard that Russia is among 10 countries whose citizens are not “permitted access to military establishments” outside of Britain under MoD rules.

As a result, overseas sites where soldiers and their families have to live on base are off-limits to personnel with partners from nations considered a security threat to the UK.

Colour Sergeant Ritchie claims he had been racially discriminated against because the decision to stop his deployment was not related to national security but the specific race of his wife.

He claims he knows of two colleagues – one with a Chinese wife and another with an Iranian wife – who had been allowed to deploy to Cyprus even though both are on the list. The preliminary hearing in Glasgow was told that Robert had joined the forces in 2002 as an infantry soldier in the Mercian regiment and had completed tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. In late 2017 he was informed he would be moving to a post in Cyprus in July 2018.

But just two months before he was due to leave, he was told that because Alisa was from Russia, a country to which Special Security Regulations apply (CSSRA), he could not deploy.

The policy states: “Countries for which Special Security Regulations apply [include] Belarus, China, Egypt, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Ukraine,Vietnam.

“A spouse, who due to nationality is not permitted access to military establishments, will be deemed unsupportable.”

Sgt Ritchie, now a permanent staff instructor based in Liverpool, was told by Judge Jim Young: “The claim should proceed to a full hearing on the merits.” A date has to be set.