BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

03/10/2006

Russia asks Belarus to introduce visas for Georgian citizens

MOSCOW, October 3 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia has asked Belarus to introduce entry visas for Georgian citizens.

The deputy director of Russia's federal migration service, Mikhail Tyurkin, said earlier on Tuesday "Georgian citizens arriving in Belarus often board trains to move over to Russia without visas."

He believes this issue may be resolved in the near future.

In January-June alone Russia has expelled about one thousand Georgian citizens for abusing the rules of presence in Russia.

Systematic work is in progress to identify illegal migrants and "Georgian citizens are within the special risk zone."

Georgian citizens often arrive in Russia without visas, obtain no registration at the place of their temporary residence and forge documents.

According to FMS statistics, quite a few forged invitations have been exposed this year.

"The Russian embassy in Tbilisi has submitted to the Federal Migration Service 150 invitations for examination and 148 of them proved fake," the FMS said.

A total of 300,000 Georgian citizens are present in Russian territory today.

"The law abiding Georgian citizens have nothing to worry about. As for abusers, trough measures will be taken against them," Tyurkin warned, adding that the Interior Ministry and the FMS were acting in strict compliance with Russian legislation and universally recognized principles of international law.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=10851567&PageNum=0