Brussels on August 29 : EU member states are in the process of suspending the visa facilitation agreement signed in 2007 with Russia in connection with the Ukraine conflict as an British newspaper published on Sunday.EU Foreign ministers from the EU are scheduled to provide the suspension with political support at an informal two-day meeting in Prague on Wednesday and Tuesday according to the Financial Times said, citing three officials who are involved in discussions.
The move extends the temporary suspension in place in February by Russian officials from the government and business leaders to include civil Russian candidates for EU visas according to the Financial Times was quoted as saying by the dpa news agency.
Suspensions render the EU visa process more difficult costlier and bureaucratic, and making it more difficult to wait for approval, as per European Commission guidelines.
Additional measures to limit EU travel to Russian citizens, such as an upper limit on the number of EU visas that can be issued, or to ban travel completely, haven’t been determined, the report stated according to officials who are participating in the talks.
The Czech Republic, Finland and Estonia after the imposition of their own restrictions on visas have called for an EU-wide policy and demanded a complete ban on Russian citizens who travel within the bloc.
Germany as well as the commission however have urged caution in blocking tourist visas or preventing Russian citizens from traveling within the bloc.Some critics have also raised humanitarian concerns.
The European Union has already slapped Russia with several rounds of economic and political sanctions following the February incursion of Ukraine including the ban of Russian airlines operating in EU airspace.
The notion of the restriction of Russian visitors to the EU was recently brought up after countries saw Russians coming to visit for summer vacations via neighboring EU countries.
The visa granted by one country allows the right to access all 26 members of Schengen.Schengen Passport-free zone.
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