Decision to reopen Russia-Belarus border may be adopted within next 2 weeks - newspaper
MOSCOW. Sept 4 (Interfax) - Russia is preparing to lift a temporary ban on crossing the Russian-Belarusian border, the Izvestia newspaper said on Friday.
"A decision to reopen the border may be made during [Belarusian President] Alexander Lukashenko's visit to Moscow within the next two weeks," the newspaper said, citing Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma's Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration, and Relations with Compatriots Viktor Vodolatsky.
"This issue will be discussed during the talks, and instructions will be issued to the transport ministers of the countries to prepare all necessary measures to ensure that the lifting of the restrictions does not trigger a second wave of the pandemic," Izvestia quoted the parliamentarian as saying.
Chairman of the abovementioned committee Leonid Kalashnikov, in turn, told Izvestia that "a decision to reopen the border with Belarus and resume regular flights will be adopted in the near future," without saying when this may happen.
The entire border with Belarus was temporarily closed on March 30 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In July, Moscow and Minsk discussed the possibility of resuming transport services, but no specific decisions were made at the time. Meanwhile, the Belarusian air carrier Belavia on August 24 extended the suspension on flights to Russia until September 14.
