The Russian authorities decided to apply migration amnesty to Moldovan citizens, President Igor Dodon announced in a press briefing on March 1. The Moldovans banned from entering the Russian Federation will be allowed to enter it, including those who committed administrative offenses. However, the Moldovans with criminal cases started in Russia will not be pardoned, IPN reports.

According to Igor Dodon, about 250 000 people who have stayed longer than allowed in Russia can submit an application to have their stay legalized to local offices of the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia by March 20 this year.

Also, the Ministry issued the Russian Border Guard Service with a list of 17,500 Moldovans who are outside Russia and will have their entrance restrictions lifted. This applies to restrictions imposed based on points 4 and 8 of Article 26 of the Federal Law No.114 of the Russian Federation. The list will be made public by this weekend.

Asked about the Moldovans who do not have criminal cases started in Russia, but were banned from entering this country based on other articles of the law, in a comment on Facebook President Dodon answered: “We are working on this”.

In a news conference in Moscow in January, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that about 50,000 Moldovans were banned from entering the Russian Federation.