State Duma ratifies Belarus-Russia agreement on mutual recognition of entry refusals

MOSCOW (BelTA) - Russia's State Duma ratified the Belarusian-Russian intergovernmental agreement on mutual recognition and execution of decisions to deny entry to foreign nationals, BelTA has learned.

The agreement was signed in Moscow on 3 March 2015. It was concluded with a view to developing the common migration space between Belarus and Russia, and is based on mutual interest in refusing entry to the persons who have no legal grounds to enter the two countries-parties to the agreement. "The agreement was concluded as there are no border controls between Belarus and Russia," Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Migration Service Yekaterina Yegorova said when presenting the document.

The document stipulates that the decisions to refuse entry to a foreign citizen or a person without citizenship to Russia or Belarus or declare him an undesirable person taken by the competent authorities of one of the states are recognized as grounds for refusing such person an entry and a visa to the other state or for reducing the period of his temporary stay in the territory of the other state.

The agreement stipulates that the competent authority of one of the states have the right to allow entry and stay in their own state to a foreign national in respect of whom the competent authorities of the other state took a decision to deny entry. The competent authorities of the other party should be notified about such decision.