Intending to go to Moscow by way of Belarus, I applied for a tourist visa in Riga. I had all applications and insurance in order, along with hotel reservations. I was told that if I had been an EU resident (I am traveling on a Panama passport) this would have been sufficient. However, since I'm not an EU resident I would need an invitation letter, such as from a travel agency in Belarus. This had to be an ORIGINAL signed letter. Email or fax would not be sufficient. Since there was not enough time to do this, no visa. Since Latvia has a border with Russia, they would also not give me a transit visa to go from Lithuania. This actually is logical. The next part, however, is not:

In Vilnius I applied for a transit visa to go through Belarus to Moscow. Again all papers in order, except that I was told I would need to show them a visa for Russia. However, Russia does not require a visa for Panamanians. I had been in and out of Russia twice with this passport. This is where the lack of logic (or just perhaps bureaucratic stupidity) comes in: Since I didn't have a Russia visa I couldn't get a Belarus transit visa, even though I don't need a visa to enter Russia. Russia, of course, won't give me a visa since I don't need one (nor would I want to pay for it). Catch 22 !

I'm currently in Russia, having gone back in through Latvia. Of course, much of it can depend on who is on duty that day. YMMV !

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Steve Barnett
Panama City, Panama