At the briefing in Tskhinval, South Ossetian Foreign Minister Akhsar Dzhioev explained the new rules for crossing the Russian border for foreigners, which will come into force on June 30 of this year.
Dzhioev reminded that, on the instructions of President Alan Gagloev, the South Ossetian Foreign Ministry sent the official note to the Russian Foreign Ministry with a request to exclude the Republic from the list of countries subject to this resolution.
“We have a common approach and instructions from the President, and we will be implementing it step by step so that this resolution does not apply to residents of South Ossetia who do not have Russian citizenship, similarly to citizens of the Republic of Belarus,” Dzhioev said.
According to him, the President instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coordinate actions with the Presidential Executive Office, the Security Council and the Parliament of South Ossetia to find the possible ways to resolve the issue in order to mitigate possible inconveniences for residents of the Republic.
"The resolution states that it does not apply to citizens of the Republic of Belarus," the Minister said. "Some categories, such as diplomats and their family members are also excluded from it. We carefully analyzed the document, held several meetings with the President, following which the order was given to draft the appeal."
Dzhioev has emphasized that the draft was finalized and the final document in the form of a diplomatic note was sent to the Russian side.
According to him, to date, all the actions taken by the South Ossetian party on the instruction of the President have been completed.
"We hope that, given the allied relations between South Ossetia and Russia and the level of integration processes that are taking place between our countries, the Russian party will carefully consider our proposal and make an acceptable decision for all parties," he has emphasized.
The Minister reminded that the relevant actions had been taken as part of the work on this resolution, which had already been reported in the media.
"In particular, Secretary of the Security Council Anatoly Pliev went to Moscow to discuss with his colleagues the possible ways to resolve the difficulties that had arisen. Upon his return, we plan to discuss the results of his trip," the Minister said.
Dzhioev has reminded that at the end of last year, a decree of the Russian government came into force in Russia that introduced new rules for entry into the country.
"The essence of this decree is that all foreign citizens, regardless of their country of origin, will be required to undergo new procedures at the border that were not previously used. In particular, this includes fingerprinting and photographing," Dzhioev said.
He has noted that Russian citizens entering from other countries with a national or foreign passport will be able to cross the border unhindered, and these new rules do not apply to them.
"The majority of South Ossetian residents are Russian citizens, so they can be excluded from the list of those who must undergo fingerprinting and other formalities," Dzhioev said. "However, there are also residents of South Ossetia who are not Russian citizens. For this category, fingerprinting and photographing will be required when crossing the border with then South Ossetian passport."
The Minister has stressed that it is also important to remember that before traveling to the Russian Federation, it will be necessary to submit an application on the State Services electronic portal 72 hours before the planned departure, and in emergency cases - 4 hours.
"Thus, this process may create certain difficulties for residents of South Ossetia who are not Russian citizens," he has noted.
Dzhioev has added that in accordance with the the resolution, children under 6 years of age are exempt from the need to undergo these procedures.
