A group of Russian citizens from Chechnya and Ingushetia were returned from the Sarajevo airport and were refused entry to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) because they failed to prove their intention to come to the country.
On December 29th, about 20 of them were returned to Turkey, from where they arrived in BiH, and they informed the KavkazRealii editorial office about what happened, which is the service of Radio Free Europe in the North Caucasus.
Advisor to the Director of the Border Police of BiH, Svevlad Hoffmann, told that during the check of these passengers, it was determined that they did not have proof of tourist intention to enter the country.
“Police officers of the BiH Border Police, in the process of verifying the fulfillment of general and special conditions, determined for a group of citizens of the Russian Federation that they do not meet the prescribed conditions, that they provided unreliable information, which is in contradiction with the provisions of Article 16 of the Law on Foreigners, and on that basis they were issued decisions on refusal of entry into BiH,” he said.
He clarified that all foreign citizens who wish to enter the territory of BiH must fulfill general and special conditions such as presenting a visa, passport and proof of the reason for entering the country. Russian citizens who were returned stated that they were coming for tourist reasons, but they were unable to prove this with appropriate documents. He states that this is often the case with Russians.
Hoffmann previously also said that Russian citizens often abuse the visa-free regime of BiH and Russia, and Kavkaz Realii announced that specifically these returned Chechens planned to request political asylum in Croatia due to Russian mobilization for the war in Ukraine.
“It is a classic abuse of the visa-free regime where it is stated that they are coming for touristic reasons, which is not the case,” Hoffmann told, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
