MINSK, 23 February (BelTA) – Spokesperson for the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dmitry Mironchik has commented on the rules of entry to Belarus for holders of the LPR and DPR passports, BelTA has learned.
When asked whether Belarus will recognize the passports issued in the LPR and DPR, Dmitry Mironchik said: “We have already adopted all the decisions regarding the stay of Ukrainian citizens in Belarus. The people in Donetsk Oblast and Lugansk Oblast are in a bad humanitarian situation. This is not news. It has been so for a while. In recent years Belarus has received about 160,000 people from both sides of the so-called contact line. To help these people, our neighbors, the Belarusian President signed Decree No. 420 on the stay of Ukrainian citizens in Belarus back in August 2014. It contains a number of provisions which have allowed us to really help our Ukrainian neighbors and friends and avoid any serious problems.”
Dmitry Mironchik explained that the decree exempts citizens residing in the territory of the Donetsk Oblast and Lugansk Oblast of Ukraine from the requirement to produce documents necessary for making a decision on a temporary residence permit or a permanent residence permit in the Republic of Belarus. “This rule applies when a person cannot provide, due to objective circumstances, any documents. Every request from Ukrainian citizens is handled by the competent services individually. Every case is treated individually because it sometimes happens that a person has only a driving license or no documents at all,” Dmitry Mironchik said.
“The mechanism has been working effectively since August 2014. There have been no complaints from citizens, international humanitarian organizations and structures, our Ukrainian, Russian and other foreign partners. We do not see any need to change anything now,” he noted.
The documents issued in the DNR and the LNR are not acceptable for entry to Belarus, Bychkovsky, an official representative of Belarus State Border Committee, said earlier. People seeking entry to Belarus are granted entry if they produce the documents which give them the right to do so. This is formalized in international and bilateral treaties. “We comply with the legislation. We cannot let through those persons who have no documents allowing them to do so,” Anton Bychkovsky said.
According to the Belarusian Interior Ministry, the Donetsk and Lugansk republics have not been recognized as territorial units, which means that the documents issued in the DPR and the LPR are invalid in Belarus. At the same time, the majority of citizens who possess such documents fall within the purview of Decree No.420 of 30 August 2014 concerning the stay of Ukrainian citizens in Belarus. They are, among other things, exempted from the need to present some documents necessary for issuing a permit to stay in Belarus, the Interior Ministry said. Thus, persons coming to Belarus from Russia with the documents issued in the DPR and the LPR initially undergo identity verification procedures. Then, the interior bodies take a decision on their possible stay in Belarus on an individual basis, depending on the situation of the person seeking entry.
As was reported, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the executive order on recognizing documents issued to Ukrainian citizens and stateless persons living in certain districts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
