Change of border control rules for flights from Belarus

All passengers who are not citizens of Russia and Belarus will go through a passport check-point now. Flights between Russia and Belarus will be transferred to the international sectors of Russian airports starting from May 15, 2017. As noted the State Secretary of the Union State of Russia and Belarus Grigory Rapota, only the citizens of third countries (not Belarusians and Russians) will have to go through a passport check-point.

Russia has amended the rules of border control on a unilateral basis; in Minsk similar changes were considered unnecessary.

Citizens of Russia and Belarus will not have to go through the border control but will have to keep the boarding pass required to be presented upon arrival in Russia. In addition, they will be obliged to pass through customs control with the verification of personal items.

The authorities of Minsk announced that they are not going to introduce border controls on flights between the two countries.

It should be recalled that in February 2017, Belarus introduced a 5-day visa-free regime for citizens of 80 countries, including the United States and the European Union. This decision affects the interests of Russia since foreign citizens arrived to Belarus without visas can illegally enter the territory of the Russian Federation.