The foreign ministers of Russia and Belarus, Sergey Lavrov and Vladimir Makei, signed on Friday an agreement between Russia and Belarus on mutual recognition of each other’s visas, TASS reported from the scene.
Earlier in the day, the presidents of Russia and Belarus, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, talked on the phone voicing “satisfaction that the work on the Russian-Belarusian intergovernmental agreement on mutual recognition of each other’s visas has ended.”
On December 12, 2018, Russia’s then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a government resolution ‘On signing an agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Belarus on mutual recognition of each other’s visas and other issues related to the entry of foreign nationals and stateless citizens on the territory of the states – signatories to the Treaty on the Creation of a Union State.’
Under the agreement, citizens of third countries with a valid visa of either Russia or Belarus will be allowed to enter, leave and stay in the other country until their visa expires, to cross the land border of Russia and Belarus by rail or air and via major highways. Each party reserves the right to deny entry to those persons or to shorten their stay on its territory.
Moscow and Minsk had planned to sign an intergovernmental agreement on mutual recognition of each other’s visas at a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union States of Russia and Belarus in Brest on December 13, 2018. However, the signing was postponed as Minsk had not finalized some internal procedures. That was amended later and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced that all proposals had been taken into account in the final draft. Bilateral discussions were underway until now.
But recently, the Government of the Russian Federation has approved the mutual recognition of visas for foreigners entering the territory of Russia and Belarus.
The head of the Russian government, Mikhail Mishustin signed an agreement between the government of the Russian Federation and the government of Belarus on mutual recognition of visas and on issues related to the entry of foreign citizens and stateless persons into the territory of states.
The agreement will be submitted to Parliament for consideration. A special information exchange system will be created between Russia and Belarus on issued and cancelled entry and stay permits and border crossings at checkpoints.
Earlier, the presidents of Russia and Belarus Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko achieved agreement on all 28 programs within the framework of the Union States.
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
TASS – RUSSIAN NEWS AGENCY
Disclaimer:
The opinions and views expressed in this write-up are entirely that of the Writer(s). They do not reflect the opinions and views of the Publisher (Nze Ikay’s Blog) or any of its employees. The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of materials herein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever of the Publisher (Nze Ikay’s Blog) or its employees concerning the legal status of any country, its authority, area or territory or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. Equally, the sketches, images, pictures and videos are gotten from the public domain.
