Minsk Convention
The 1993 convention on legal assistance between CIS countries, under which documents from one country are accepted in another without an apostille or legalisation.
The Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters was signed by CIS states in 1993. Public documents issued in one contracting state are accepted in another without an apostille and without consular legalisation, though a translation into the local language may still be required.
For some of the parties the 1993 convention is being replaced from 2023 by the later Chisinau Convention of 2002.
Related terms
Chisinau Convention
The 2002 convention on legal assistance; from 2023 it replaces the 1993 Minsk Convention for Russia and part of the CIS.
OpenTreaty on legal assistance
A bilateral or multilateral treaty under which the documents of one country are accepted in the other without an apostille or legalisation.
OpenLegalisation of documents
The general name for the procedures that make a Russian document usable abroad: an apostille, consular legalisation, or nothing at all under a treaty.
Open