Putin addresses EU-Russia summit in Brussels

The visa requirement is a restraining factor in Russia-EU relations, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

Addressing a Russia-EU summit in Brussels, he said Moscow hopes to achieve a “shift” on the visa issue soon, RIA Novosti reports.

“I believe this work will advance without any politicization of the issue,” he said.

“The lack of free communication between people is a restraining factor in the development of our economic relations,” Putin said, adding that Russian-EU annual trade turnover is almost 400 billion, without specifying the currency.

The current summit is the 30th in the history of Russia-EU relations. The previous summit took place in St. Petersburg on June 3-4.