Briefing, June 17th, 2014
Now I would like to make some explanatory statements. They concern the Law “On Human Rights and Freedoms Protection and Legal status on temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.” The law, which now comes into force, defines procedures of arrival and departure from the temporarily occupied territory.
In the meantime, foreign citizens and persons without citizenship must have a special admittance for entering and leaving the temporarily occupied territory through entry and exit points.
Currently, the project of entry and exit procedure, developed by Administration of Ukraine’s State Border Service, is being processed by responsible central executive bodies of the state.
Thus, foreigners from countries with visa entry procedures need to apply to Ukraine’s embassies and consulates abroad to get the necessary visa documents.
Foreigners from countries with visa-free entry procedures can stay on the territory of Autonomous Republic of Crimea and city of Sevastopol only by crossing Ukraine’s state border through checkpoints, with respective marks made in their passports or landing cards.
Along with that, the Law introduces changes to some regulatory acts that concern responsibility of those who violate entry and exit procedures on occupied territories of Ukraine.
I would point out that Section 13 of the Law of Ukraine “On Legal Status of Foreigners and Persons without Citizenship” is supplemented with the following paragraph:
Entry in Ukraine to a foreigner or a person without citizenship is prohibited:
– if the person attempts to cross the border without special admittance, or if the person left the occupied territory through an entry-exit checkpoint during his/her previous stay in Ukraine.
The Law is also supplemented by Section 14-1 which reads as follows:
– Foreigners and persons without citizenship who reached the entry-exit checkpoints of the occupied territory without relevant admittance are not allowed to pass further. The are to return to the occupied territory they came from as soon as possible, or to the country that issued their passport document. If a foreigner or a person without citizenship cannot return immediately, they stay at the checkpoint until they can return.
– The mentioned persons get a mark in their passports about exclusion from Ukraine. The exclusion lasts for the period of time defined in the decision made according to Part 3, Section 13 of this Law.
Section 20 of the Law is supplemented by Part 3 which reads as follows:
– Foreigners and persons without citizenship are not allowed to travel in transit through the temporarily occupied territory.
The legal status foreseen by this Law will act until constitutional order of Ukraine is fully restored on the temporarily occupied territory.
Translated by Ivan Zhezhera, edited by Alya Shandra
Source: http://mfa.gov.ua/ua/press-center/briefing/1231-brifing-v-mzs
