Starting on January 1, 2005, Russian citizens and citizens of CIS countries, with which Russia has visa-free transit procedures, will have to have certain types of identity documents to travel around the CIS. The list of such documents includes diplomatic and business passports, a seaman passport and a passport for traveling abroad. As such, domestic passports will be invalid to cross the borders of CIS countries. This measure targets fighting illegal migration and terrorism, the information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

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