Third-country nationals affected: Moscow changes border control rules for Belarus-Russia flights

From 15 May on, Moscow will move all Belarus-Russia flights to international airport sectors. Until now, such flights have been considered as domestic.

Third-country nationals arriving from Belarus or flying to our country will be subject to border control, Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota said on Friday.

According to the top official, new rules will not affect citizens of Russia and Belarus:

“Nothing will change for Russians and Belarusians – as before, the way of their crossing the border will not be restricted in any way. If an additional corridor is needed for the ease of convenience, border guards will organize it.”

The only thing Russians and Belarusians should do is to keep a boarding pass confirming their arrival or departure to a neighboring country, he said.

“There will not be any marks on crossing the border in the passport,” Rapota stressed.

At the same time, the Secretary of the Union State said that he was not privy to information about any plans to introduce similar measures for other transport modes.

In early February, Russia’s FSB Head Alexander Bortnikov ordered to establish a border zone to ‘create the necessary conditions for the protection of the state border of the Russian Federation’. The decision might have been a response to Belarus president Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s signing the decree ‘On the introduction of the visa-free entry and departure for foreign citizens’.

belsat.eu, following RIA Novosti