The agreement, signed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Belarusian counterpart Vladimir Makei earlier in the week, stipulates that foreign citizens with Fan IDs, coming for the FIFA World Cup through Belarus, will be able to enter the country without a Belarusian visa.

However, despite the agreement officially coming into force on Friday, the visa-free entry regime based on the Fan ID will be only available from June 4 through July 25.

A FAN ID is a personalized document which is part of an identification system for football fans and is obligatory for everyone who has a ticket to any of the games of the upcoming tournament. It provides its holders with a visa-free entry to Russia during the World Cup, with fans being able to enter the country 10 days before the first match and stay until 10 days after the last game.

Russia will host its first-ever FIFA World Cup from June 14 to July 15, with the games set to be held in 11 cities.