“Russia and the European Union achieved agreement on a series of mutual steps, which should be implemented to move to a visa-free regime for short-term trips of Russian citizens to EU countries,” the minister for foreign affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov said recently. He also stated that the agreement can be achieved on December 7th at the summit of Russia and the EU in Brussels.
Russia’s envoy to EU Vladimir Chizhov thinks that simplification of the visa regime between Russia and the EU is beneficial for both sides. “It is not a one-sided gesture of a good will from the EU toward Russians. It is of mutually beneficial interest,” Chizhov told a press conference at Interfax on Friday. He noted that the issue is about short-term trips only: “It won’t concern students, who go abroad to study for several years, as well as migrant workers. However, it will satisfy the needs of the majority of Russians and EU citizens, who visit our countries as tourists.”
Commenting on the general background of relations between Moscow and Brussels, the envoy said: “When we talk about our strategic partnership with the European Union, I always feel that this term has become a cliché. Still, it has some actual meaning. Russian-EU trade ties are developing, in spite of the economic crisis. It’s very important that both imports and exports are increasing.”
Speaking about preparations for the 28th Russian-EU summit in Brussels, Chizhov said that three major problems will be discussed during this summit.
First of all, international problems, the results of the G20 summit and the crisis of the eurozone. “We are looking forward to hearing reports on the real state-of-affairs and possible ways out. One half of Russia’s national savings are invested in the European currency,” Chizhov said.
The second problem is the current situation in the Middle East and North Africa, including the situation surrounding Iran. Russia and the European Union both have their interest in these regions. These interests do not always coincide.
The third problem is that of Russian-EU relations themselves. The most acute problem is Russia’s attempt to establish a visa-free regime with the countries of the European Union. “This problem has been frozen for a long time, even though such an initiative was announced during the Russian-EU summit in St. Petersburg in 2003. There are no real achievements in this sphere. We have come to an agreement, according to which we are to take some certain steps in this direction, but we haven’t agreed when we will start actual negotiations on a visa-free regime. The current situation surrounding this problem was discussed during a joint press conference of Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.”Another issue of Russian-EU relations is the‘Partnership for Modernization’ initiative. “This program was launched 2 years ago. It is now being implemented,” Chizhov added.
One of the most important aspects of this dialogue is the question of migration. The third important aspect of this bilateral dialogue is the new basic agreement between Russia and the EU and the WTO. Moreover, cooperation in crisis settlement will be discussed. “Despite three successful mutual projects on crisis settlement (in Bosnia, Chad and Somali), we still lack a legal base for such cooperation,” the envoy stated.
