‘Fact’. The Issue of Russian Activist Vitali Shishkin Seeking Asylum in Armenia Will Not Go Unanswered

‘Fact’ newspaper reports: “The issue of Russian activist Vitali Shishkin seeking asylum in Armenia, according to certain expert circles, is unlikely to go unanswered by Russia. In particular, several political scientists expressed concern in our conversation that Russia might prohibit entry into Armenia with internal passports. Incidentally, Shishkin arrived in Armenia with a Russian internal passport because he did not possess a passport required for international travel (‘zagranpassport’).

It should be noted that in 2017, the Armenian government approved proposed amendments to the agreement on a visa-free regime with Russia, allowing Russian citizens to visit Armenia using their internal passports. It was stated that this decision would facilitate the process of document processing for Russian citizens and was also aimed at increasing the flow of tourism from Russia to Armenia.

According to experts, the Armenian foreign ministry should actively engage with Russia to mitigate the potential repercussions of this unconsidered move, as merely removing the possibility of entering Armenia with internal passports could deal a serious blow to tourism since the majority of Russian citizens traveled to Armenia using their internal passports.”

For more details, refer to today’s issue of the newspaper.