Russia restores visa-freedom for young stateless residents of Estonia and Latvia

TALLINN - Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday that restores the right of young stateless residents of Estonia and Latvia to travel to Russia without a visa.

According to the order drafted by the Russian Foreign Ministry, entitled to visa-free entry will be also the stateless residents of Estonia and Latvia-born after Feb. 6, 1992, which is when the citizenship of the Soviet Union became invalid.

Under the previous presidential regulation dating from 2008, persons who had prior Soviet citizenship were allowed to enter Russia without a visa. That meant persons born before Feb. 6, 1992. The change taking effect now lifts that restriction, meaning that all holders of the alien's, or so-called gray passports can enter Russia without a visa regardless of age. The Putin order took effect immediately.

The explanatory note accompanying the draft says that visa-free travel directly affects the interests of Russian stateless compatriots in Estonia and Latvia. Most of them seek to maintain and develop historically established cultural, humanitarian, scientific, regional, trade and economic, and other ties with Russia. It says that dividing these people in two - those who have the right to enter Russia without a visa and those who do not have that right - only aggravates the situation of these people, it stands in the explanatory note.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the measure concerns about 6,000 stateless residents of Latvia and Estonia-born after Feb. 6, 1992.

The problem concerning the entry of holders of the gray passports into Russia arose in August 2016 following the arrest of a young stateless resident of Latvia in Russia, who had no right to be in Russia without a visa under the valid law. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev then asked the ministries of internal affairs and foreign affairs to draft amendments to enable all stateless residents of Estonia and Latvia to travel to Russia without a visa.