The Russian Embassy accused Belgium of discrimination due to non-recognition of passports.

Belgium's refusal to recognize Russian passports, which were issued to residents of several regions of the country, is discrimination. This was announced on August 18 by the Russian Embassy in Brussels.

"We cannot but note the continuing discriminatory approach of the Belgian side, which continues to refuse to recognize passports issued to residents of certain Russian regions," RIA Novosti quoted the text of the diplomatic mission's statement.

The diplomatic mission also explained that these restrictions apply to documents issued in the Republic of Crimea after March 18, 2014, as well as in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics after April 24, 2019.

In addition, Belgium does not recognize passports issued in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions after May 25, 2022 and in the Kharkiv region after August 1, 2022 or issued to persons residing in these territories.

At the same time, the diplomats called the decision of Brussels to stop recognizing five-year old Russian passports of the old type from October 1 expected. It is specified that this step is connected with the transition of the EU countries to a single electronic border control system.

The day before, the European Commission announced that from October 1, 2026, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden will cease to recognize Russian five-year non-biometric passports. It is noted that Sweden has provided for a transition period, where until December 31 of this year the country will continue to accept Russians with visas and residence permits issued before October 1 by the EU and the Schengen area.