Moscow since May 15, 2017. Introduces border control in relation to third-country nationals who come to Russia from Belarus or fly to a neighboring republic. This Friday, May 5, said the State Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota, RIA Novosti reports..

Russian and Belarusian passengers will be affected by new rules, they can continue to cross the border on internal passports, he stressed.. Rapota noted that all flights between Russia and Belarus since May 15 will be transferred to international airport sectors.

The Secretary added that the only change for Russians and Belarusians will be the duty to maintain a boarding pass that will have to be presented at the entrance to Russia. "There will not be any marks on crossing the border in the passport," Rapota said..

According to Leonid Kalashnikov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, these are the expected actions on the part of the Russian Federation due to the fact that the Belarusians made an independent decision to open the border ".

He also stressed that Russia and Belarus are "still not one state". "With regard to third-country nationals, we have to go on this, since our special services have not agreed. Of course, we are responsible for our security, they are for their own ", - said Kalashnikov.

At the beginning of this February it became known that throughout the Russian-Belarusian border the regime of the border zone is being introduced - in the Pskov, Smolensk and Bryansk regions. The corresponding three orders were signed by the Director of the Federal Security Service of Russia, Alexander Bortnikov. As noted in the documents, this decision was taken in order to create the necessary conditions for the protection of the state border.

Some analysts suggested that such measures are Moscow's response to the five-day visa-free regime introduced in Minsk this January for foreigners from 80 countries.