RUSSIA AND ABKHAZIA AGREE ON VISA-FREE TRAVELS

369
Oct 03 2009, 08:00

On October 2, Heads of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Russia
and Abkhazia Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Shamba signed an agreement on
visa-free travels, which will allow Abkhazians and Russians crossing
their border not only by foreign documents, but also by their domestic
passports. It is expected that the agreement will come into force in
30 days.

According to Mr Lavrov, the signed agreement assumes a visa-free
entrance and stay in each other’s territory for the period of up to 90
days. "The agreement will cover not only the holders of passports for
travelling abroad, but also those with internal (national) passports,
children up to 14 with birth certificates, and holders of seaman’s
certificates. It’s as much as possible preferential regime," the
Russian Minister has explained.

De-facto, citizens of Russia could come to Abkhazia without foreign
passports before, and those who visited the republic by their foreign
documents, not always received their border-crossing mark.