You're reading: Depardieu can now visit, live in Belarus without visa

French actor Gerard Depardieu, who has been granted Russian citizenship, can now visit Belarus without a visa, Alexei Begun, the head of the Belarusian Interior Ministry department on citizenship and migration, told Interfax on Saturday.

 “As a Russian citizen, he will enjoy freedom of travel in accordance with the agreement on equal rights of citizens to freedom of travel and choice of place of residence signed in the Union of Russia and Belarus,” Begun said.

“As a Russian citizen, he has a right to choose Belarus as his place of residence. If he requests it, he will get a residence permit in accordance with the established procedures. In accordance with the legislation, he can travel in Belarus on a Russian passport under the visa-free regime,” he said.

Begun said Depardieu has not requested Belarusian citizenship yet.

“Like in Russia, issues relating to the granting of citizenship are in the terms of reference of the president in Belarus. We have not received such requests yet,” Begun said.

“The Belarusian interior affairs bodies, in turn, will register his request in accordance with the legislation should they receive such a request,” Begun said.

In 2012, the Belarusian president made decisions on 1,763 requests made by foreigners seeking Belarusian citizenship. The interior affairs bodies considered over 4,500 requests on citizenship issues.

Begun said Belarusian citizenship was granted last year to citizens of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and other CIS countries, as well as Latvia, Lithuania, and Switzerland, and the Belarusian authorities are now considering a citizenship request made by a citizen of the U.S.

“We get requests from many countries, mainly from ordinary people. However, there are athletes, there are people who have done a lot for the Republic of Belarus,” Begun said.

Begun would not disclose the names of the prominent people who received Belarusian citizenship last year, saying that would constitute “disclosure of personal information.”