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Russia regrets Ukraine's decision to tighten border-crossing procedures

Xinhua, February 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Moscow on Wednesday expressed regret over Ukraine's intention to introduce tighter border-crossing procedures for Russian citizens.

The Ukrainian cabinet on Tuesday approved a decree that requires Russian nationals to carry travel passports from March 1 to cross into Ukraine, instead of their domestic documents.

"Kiev's decision causes nothing but regret, because it complicates the contacts between millions of citizens of the two countries," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Moscow insists on preserving the existing simplified order of border crossing for "humanitarian reasons," the ministry said.

According to the ministry, Moscow has not so far received any official notification from Kiev.

Moreover, Kiev plans to revise the local border traffic regime established for residents living near the frontier area between Ukraine and Russia, in line with the latest European standards, the statement said.

Currently, international passports or local border traffic cards are not required for travel between Ukraine and Russia. The two ex-Soviet neighbors use their national identity documents for crossing of the border in line with the 1997 and 2004 inter-government agreements. Endi