MOSCOW, 17 January (BelTA) – Belarus and Russia have started a dialogue on a joint extradition policy, BelTA learned from Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the press conference in Moscow on January 17.
“We, Russia and Belarus, are a union, where a fundamental decision has been taken to bridge the gap between the rights of the citizens of both countries in all areas, without an exception,” Sergei Lavrov said. “One of such areas that we work on today is the coordination of the joint visa and migration space. Among other things we need to put together a joint list of undesirable persons and a list of undesirable ones. But doing it also requires a joint extradition policy. Today it is of particular relevance, as there is an agreement between Belarus and the EU on setting up detention centers for illegal migrants. Since there is no formalized land border between Belarus and Russia, the situation gives rise to questions and opportunities for abuse. That is why we have started the dialogue on these matters with our Belarusian colleagues.”
Sergei Lavrov noted that Belarus-Russia migration policy talks have been going on for quite some time, however, now is the time to accelerate them and reach specific results.
