MINSK. June 9 (Interfax) - Russian Ambassador in Minsk Alexander Surikov has explained Russia's establishing a border control zone on the border with Belarus and transition of flights from Belarus to international zones in Russian airports with counter-terrorism.
"It is caused by Russia's intensifying fight against terrorism, ISIL, especially in Syria. [...] And we're not ruling out that an open border between Russia and Belarus could be partially used by ISIL members among others, having in mind the visa-free travel to the Minsk National Airport for 80 countries," Surikov said at a press conference in Minsk on Friday.
"In this situation we had to transfer flights from the domestic status to the international one," he said.
It was done "considering the extension of countering, of the countries' fight against terrorism," Surikov said, when asked whether the border control was put in place due to distrust in Belarusian border guards. It is a preventive measure and "it's better to be safe than sorry," he said.
Speaking of border control in Russian airports, the ambassador said it is not unlikely that this procedure for Russian and Belarusian citizens could be simplified in the near future, in particular, scanning of a passport could be excluded. "One could just show a passport of a Russian or Belarusian citizen and proceed freely. It won't cause any delays at all," Surikov said.
The issue of charter flights carrying workers from Belarus en route to Western Siberia remains pending, he said. "A dialogue between two border guard services on how to carry this out on a notification basis is currently underway. I mean, if a list of Belarusian citizens is provided to our border committee [beforehand], they won't have to undergo any procedures upon their arrival," the diplomat said.