Belarus, Russia Agree On How Foreigners Will Cross Border During Football World Cup

The agreement will be signed soon.

In the coming days, Belarus and Russia will supposedly sign a sports agreement that will facilitate travel within the Union State for the third-country nationals during the World Cup, which will be held in Russia. This was told at a round table in Minsk, reports tut.by.

- Now our citizens enjoy freedom of movement. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Belarusians travel to Russia, Russians to Belarus and practically do not feel as foreign citizens, said Aliaksei Biahun, head of the department on citizenship and migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus. – A lot was done for the World Cup. Now a sports agreement is being prepared - for the citizens of third countries at the territory of the Union State. It should, on the one hand, facilitate the movement of fans, and, on the other hand, strengthen control over persons who attract attention of the law-enforcement bodies.

Russia allowed visa-free entry into the country for the holders of fan IDs for the time of the championship. According to the sports agreement, they will be able to stay at the territory of Belarus. Foreigners without fan IDs who received Russian visas will have to enter through international checkpoints, but there are no such points between the two countries. Earlier it was reported that the Russian side will install temporary checkpoints at the border for the time of the championship.

It is planned that about 3 million tourists will come to Russia for the World Cup, of which about 1.5 million are foreigners. It is expected that many of them will travel to Russia via Belarus.

"In the coming days, the sports agreement will be signed," said Dzmitry Dzemidzenka, deputy head of the Main Department for Migration of the Russian Interior Ministry.

The sports agreement will be valid 15 days before and 15 days after the World Cup.

The Ministries of Internal Affairs of the two countries have a large list of individuals for whom special control is needed - 1.7 million people. 1.5 million of them were included in the database upon the initiative of the Russian side.

According to Dzmitry Dzemidenkz, within a month a closed communication channel is being established between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus and Russia, in order to transmit information safely.