Russia is ready to start implementing the Armenian government's initiative on the use of the internal Russian passports for traveling to Armenia, Russian Prime Minister Dmtiry Medvedev said at a joint press briefing with his Armenian counterpart Hovik Abrahamyan in Yerevan today, on April 7.
"Such initiative speaks of the special relations of the two peoples. We are ready to implement it, of course," Medvedev said.
On September 10 2015, Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan said at the Government's session that the citizens of Russia and other member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) should get an opportunity to visit Armenia with their national passports. He said that only 15-20% of Russians have international passports, which is a serious obstacle for their trips to Armenia. "The cancellation of the requirement about the availability of international passports will raise the number of tourists to Armenia," said the prime minister, instructing the relevant services to tackle the given problem. For his part, Gagik Yeganyan, Head of the State Migration Service of the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations, told journalists that today Russians use their international passports when traveling abroad. Now all conditions will be created for them to use their national passports when crossing the Armenian border. Earlier Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on ratification of the Armenian-Russian agreement on the stay of Armenian citizens in Russia and the stay of Russian citizens in Armenia. Under the agreement, the Russian citizens temporarily staying in Armenia and the Armenian citizens temporarily staying in Russia no longer have to be registered within 30 days.