When will it be possible to travel to Belarus from Russia

How is the situation today

There are no difficulties with determining the date of the trip, since the Republic of Belarus did not limit either entry into the country or exit from it. If there is a place where you can stay for a long time (for example, with living relatives), several categories of Russian citizens can leave for the republic.

However, it will be possible to return to their homeland only if those who enter are entered in the official lists, since in the Russian Federation, on March 16, a government decree was adopted on the temporary restriction of entry. It applies to both those who do not have citizenship and foreign citizens. So far (at the end of August 2020) transport links are still suspended.

The Ambassador of Belarus to Moscow V. Semashko voiced the forecast of the opening of the border earlier. They only named an approximate date - the end of July or the beginning of August of this year.

At the end of the last month of summer, it is still said that for those who have received a work or study permit, booked a room in a sanatorium or a rest house, there is no need to find out when it will be possible to travel to Belarus from Russia. It is enough to have a package of necessary documents with you and you can go, for example, by car.

The border between the countries is almost arbitrary, but the border guards will definitely require:

passport (domestic or international) of a citizen of Russia;
documents for the vehicle (registration certificate and insurance policy, driver's license);
a study or work permit or a documented certificate of booking a room in a sanatorium, a rest house, at a camp site.

Until recently, the Russians used the Republic of Belarus as a staging post for transit trips. This mostly concerned tourist trips to countries with which Russia interrupted flights even before the coronavirus pandemic.

Those who intend to use such a semi-legal method of movement in 2020 are naturally interested in the question of when it will be possible to travel to Belarus from Russia. Travel agencies offer additional services for booking rooms (for two weeks or several days, with subsequent free cancellation, paying for one day).

This can be done independently, but there have already been signals that the Belarusian border guards do not trust the passes issued on this basis. When crossing the border for the purpose of recreation, they may unexpectedly require a certificate of absence of diseases or a certificate of recent passage of a coronavirus test, allegedly because these are the requirements for receiving tourists.

A global pandemic has made significant adjustments to the usual means of travel, even between countries with a common border. The negotiations between the prime ministers of Russia and Belarus did not lead to concrete results - there is still no certainty about the dates, the exact dates of the opening of regular flights are not known.

Air traffic

Those wishing to fly to Minsk by plane can take advantage of several irregular flights, but they do not even take place every day. You will have to find out the date and time of departure of the next flight and, in an unfavorable set of circumstances, look for a refuge in the capital of Belarus.

It may turn out that there are no tickets for a convenient flight. Belavia announced the opening of flights and even launched the sale of tickets for the announced flights, but there is no official confirmation of this fact.

Arriving at the Minsk airport, tourists from Russia are required to fill out a questionnaire, which contains points where you need to indicate the time spent in the country and contact information. Those who have tickets with a reverse date are greeted much more favorably. All this is quite understandable if we remember what events are taking place in the country now.

Railway

The official website of Russian Railways unambiguously answers that it is impossible to travel to Minsk by train, even on the route from Moscow to Smolensk, which passed through Minsk. It has been canceled since the beginning of May, and there is no information on possible dates for the resumption of railway communication.

A. Rudenko, Deputy Foreign Minister, said that the opening of Russia's borders is planned only after a positive trend has been achieved in the number of cases of coronavirus. August is drawing to a close, but there is no further information on this matter.

A bus trip is possible from St. Petersburg and Moscow several times a week. But only citizens of Belarus or Russians with a residence permit or a one-time document confirming the right to stay in the country can leave (this also applies to the funeral of a close relative, if there are documents on death and confirmation of kinship).

Summarize

There is no officially confirmed information about the possible dates of the resumption of regular communication between the countries.
Irregular flights of Aeroflot fly.
The railway service has been closed since the beginning of May.
On the bus and car, you need a package of documents to cross the border.
The approximate date was called the beginning of August, but there were no more messages.