MOSCOW, 18 March (BelTA) – Russia's decision to lift all restrictions on the movement of citizens of Belarus and Russia across the border of the two countries will increase business mobility and improve human contacts, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Petrishenko told the media, BelTA has learned.
"This is an additional measure to ensure that both business and human ties are not interrupted," said Igor Petrishenko. “They haven't been interrupted before. It's just that the mobility of citizens, including that of tourism business, will increase for both Russians and Belarusians."
The deputy prime minister stressed that the lifting of restrictions at midnight of 18 March was the result of the agreements reached by the presidents of Belarus and Russia. "These restrictions were related to the sanitary and epidemiological situation in Russia," Igor Petrishenko emphasized. "On the part of Belarus, there were no restrictions on both the exit to Russia and the entry of Russians into Belarus. We did not impose them. That measure was due to the sanitary and epidemiological regime in Russia.”
"We see that the situation [with COVID-19] has stabilized, thank God, and the Russian government, at our request, made this decision," the deputy prime minister said. “In addition to aviation and rail service, now citizens can use road transport and move around without any restrictions. This is an important element of our cooperation, that will help to stabilize, among other things, the external negative pressure.”
At the same time, the PCR testing requirement at the entrance to Russia by air still remains in force. "I think that this [the lifting of PCR testing requirement] will be the next stage," Igor Petrishenko added.
