The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry says that they “intend to do everything to ensure that crossing the Ukrainian-Russian border is carried out under a simplified procedure, which will have a favorable effect on the development of interpersonal and interstate contacts between our countries.” Translated from bureaucratic language, this means that diplomats do not intend to support the Russian Foreign Ministry's initiative for Ukrainians to cross the common border using foreign passports and would like to defend the good “old-fashioned method” - trips using internal passports.
True, officially no one in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry confirms this, and they call the Russian side's initiative to cancel crossing the border with general civil passports “interesting.” Nevertheless, Ukrainian diplomats clearly intend to help citizens who have to travel to Russia very often, mainly for work. At the same time, it is no secret that most Ukrainians working abroad prefer Europe, and in the western direction they are not stopped by foreign passports or even paid visas.
By the way, obtaining a foreign passport for a Ukrainian can cost from $40 to $120 depending on urgency. At the same time, the cost of visas to Eastern European countries, where Ukrainian “guest workers” are most often found, ranges from €40 to €50. Diplomats cite the reduction of smuggling and illegal immigrants as arguments in favor of introducing foreign passports when crossing the Ukrainian-Russian border. Moreover, the European Union has repeatedly made remarks to Ukraine about the “leaky” eastern border, through which illegal immigrants seeking to reach Europe enter the country.
According to the official website of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Ukrainians can currently travel with internal passports only to Russia and Belarus. All other CIS countries can be entered only with a foreign passport, and a trip to Turkmenistan will also require a visa. Overall, the Foreign Ministry says that the Russian side's initiative is still hypothetical, and negotiations on this issue will continue. The next round of negotiations is expected in September of this year.
Meanwhile, the Department of Information and Press of the Russian Foreign Ministry recently stated that the issue has not been finally resolved, and until the end of 2005 Russian and Ukrainian citizens will definitely be able to use internal passports for mutual trips. It is also worth noting that the issue of crossing the Ukrainian-Russian border with foreign passports is not being raised for the first time; it was discussed back in 2002. Then the initiative also came from Russian diplomats, and in Ukraine it was perceived as “another sabotage”.
Currently, trips are carried out under the agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on mutual trips of 1997, which states that citizens of these two countries can enter the neighboring state with both foreign and internal passports. One should also not forget that in the autumn of last year, the Russian Federation made a very serious concession to Ukrainians by canceling mandatory registration on Russian territory for those who stay there for no more than 90 days.