Border Officials Confirm Checks Of Belarusians’ Passports In Russia Airports

It depends on agreements between the foreign ministries of the two countries, if this temporary measure becomes a usual one.

The citizens of Belarus, arriving at Russian airports, are checked their passports. It depends on agreements between the foreign ministries of the two countries, if this temporary measure becomes a usual one, the Russian Border Service informed BelaPAN.

The Belarusians, who are travelling by plane from Minsk to Moscow, report in social networks that Russian border guards have checked their passports, although the flight was considered internal, and such checks hadn’t been carried out in the past. As a result, passengers were forced to spend more time at the airport.

As the Russian FCC border service explains to reporters, this is a temporary measure connected with the fact that there have been recorded a lot of violations while crossing the border of Belarus. Third-country nationals have always had to pass passport control, the Border Service explains. As it is difficult to identify, who has got a Belarusian passport in the crowd of passengers, everyone is checked.

It depends on agreements between the foreign ministries of the two countries, if this temporary measure becomes a usual one. Now this issue is discussed at the level of foreign ministries, the Russian Border Service reports.

They also assure that this measure is not associated with the introduction of five-day Belarus visa-free regime for foreigners (according to the decree of Lukashenka of January 9, there will be a five-day visa-free regime for the citizens of 80 countries, arriving through the National Airport Minsk starting with February 12).

Deputy press secretary of the State Border Committee of Belarus Anton Bychkouski says that the Belarusian side has not introduced such innovations. "The passport control of citizens of Belarus and Russia on domestic flights is still not carried out at the Minsk National Airport, the guards work as usual," – he said.

The Foreign Ministry of Belarus does not comment on the situation.

The ground control on the Belarusian-Russian border has been tightened since November 2016. Foreigners are in fact forbidden to pass in transit through Belarus to Russia – they can get there only through international checkpoints. There are no such points on the border between Belarus and Russia, so foreign tourists are to make a detour through Latvia or through the checkpoint New Yurkovichi in Bryansk region, which has international status, as it is located at the junction of the borders of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.