Belarus’ law enforcement authorities are closely cooperating with the Russian side on the 30-day visa-free entry to the republic for foreign citizens, said head of the Department for Citizenship and Migration at the Belarusian Interior Ministry Alexei Begun on ONT television channel live on Sunday.
"The Interior Ministry is taking preventive and organizational measures jointly with interested [authorities] to minimize risks. We are cooperating with our Russian colleagues to remove their concerns over the possibility of penetration of this category of people (who are banned entry to Russia) to the Russian Federation," Begun noted.
He highlighted that Belarus "is doing all that is possible to find illegal migrants and channels of illegal migration." "The Interior Ministry is constantly monitoring the migration flow and certain liberalization [of the visa regime] did not lead to a growth in criminality and violations on the part of this category of citizens," said the head of the Belarusian Interior Ministry’s department.
On July 24, 2018, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered to prolong the visa-free stay for foreign citizens from five to 30 days provided they enter the country and subsequently leave it through the state border at Minsk national airport. The visa-free regime has been operating against citizens from 80 countries, including the EU states. The procedure for visa-free movement through the airport does not affect people who come to Belarus by planes from Russia, as well as those wishing to fly to Russian airports, as these flights are domestic, which do not require border control.