CIS VISAS WILL NO LONGER BE VALID FOR TRANSIT THROUGH BELARUS

Minsk decided to suspend the visas, which allowed foreigners possessing a visa from any signatory country to that agreement to travel through Belarus without a Belarusian transit visa. Meanwhile, Russia's recent decision to introduce customs controls on the Belarusian-Russian border of shipments by third countries was a "total surprise" for Minsk, RFE/RL's Belarusian Service commented. Barysevich stressed that the decision does not spell the end of the Russia-Belarus Customs Union, adding that it resulted from Russia's "domestic political problems." The same day a Belarusian delegation was in Moscow to discuss the reintroduction of customs controls, but the outcome of those talks is not known.