Belarus and Russia expect the agreement on mutual recognition of visas to be operational by the end of the year.
The Belarusian authorities announce that the agreement between Belarus and Russia on the mutual recognition of visas is in the final stages of preparation and should be fully operational by the end of the year.
The long-awaited agreement, already ratified by both countries, aims to facilitate the free movement of citizens and foreigners between Russia and Belarus, thus strengthening economic and diplomatic ties between Minsk and Moscow.
Belarusian Deputy Minister of Sport and Tourism, Oleg Andreichik, states that “the agreement on mutual recognition of visas on the territory of the two states is already being finalized by the departments concerned. I hope that, with the entry into force of this document, we will be able to step up international links considerably”.
Andreichik reiterates the principle behind this forthcoming visa recognition between the two countries. “When traveling to the Russian Federation, foreign citizens with an entry visa will be able to cross the territory of Belarus. In this way, tourists coming to Belarus will be able to familiarize themselves with Russia’s tremendous tourism potential”.
Recognition of Russian and Belarusian visas: a process in preparation since 2017
Until the end of the year, citizens of 35 European countries can enter Belarus visa-free by air or land, and stay for up to 30 days.
Russia offers citizens of 56 countries an electronic visa (e-Visa), enabling them to stay in the country for up to 16 days.
The idea of mutual recognition of visas between Belarus and Russia was initially discussed in 2017, as part of exchanges on the two countries’ further integration into the Eurasian Economic Union and the State Union, which aims to harmonize their legislative and economic systems. This visa agreement marks a concrete step towards achieving this goal.
Until now, citizens of both countries could travel freely between Russia and Belarus thanks to a bilateral agreement on free movement. However, foreigners traveling to either country were subject to separate visa procedures for each territory. This posed difficulties for tourists and businessmen wishing to travel to Russia after obtaining a Belarusian visa, and vice-versa.
The agreement in preparation should remove these obstacles, and foreign tourists and investors will no longer need separate visas to enter Belarus and Russia.
Implementation between November and December 2024
Alexey Begun, Head of the Department of Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, tells RIA Novosti today that “a high-level meeting is to be held today, at which the relevant authorities of Belarus and Russia are to report on the progress of work on creating an information system for the agreement on mutual recognition of visas between the two countries”.
According to Begun, “the group will review the status of the roadmap for the creation of this information system and, I believe, give a corresponding order to complete the work by November-December of this year, so that the relevant authorities start implementing the agreement at the end of this year”.
The official also points out that implementation of the agreement is currently hampered by certain technical aspects…
“It’s a fairly complex set of organizational and practical measures, a new construction of communication channels, technical protection. It is a unique system, applied for the first time between the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation. It provides double protection for information,” says Alexey Begun.
Technical details on how this system will work, as well as specific procedures for third-country citizens, are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
