A
joint meeting concerning the future of trading and visa regimes will be held
between Russian authorities and the European Commission in Moscow on March 21-22. The main question at
hand, which has been in the works for years, is simplifying and later
cancelling the visa regime. The Permanent Representative of Russia in EU,
Vladimir Chizhov, says that such a document is “approved, coordinated and has
been read through. The only problem remaining concerns business passports. The
wording is still being adjusted”. Thus the document will not be signed during
the upcoming meeting between Russian and EU authorities.
At
the end of 2012 the cancelation of Schengen visas for Russian citizens sounded
like a sealed deal. “Almost all the technical problems, concerning the visa
free regime, are solved. Now it’s time for our European colleagues to make the
political move,” said Vladimir Putin during a Russian-EU summit in Brussels. But then it
turned out that the visa free regime, which was supposed to be of effect before
the 2014 Olympics, can be implemented by the end of 2014 at best.
EU
representatives noted that Moscow’s
expectations for the visa free regime before the Olympics were “too
unrealistic”. European diplomats actually decided not to give any dates,
because the EU is against creating any artificial deadlines. The talks continue
and the Russian MFA believes there’s still chance for big changes in the visa
regime in the coming years. At the moment there are two documents in the works.
The first one, which has been developed for the last seven years, deals with
the overall cancellation of visas. The second one should simplify the current
visa regime. The latter has been approved and coordinated much better. And
there’s a chance that it will be signed during the next Russia-EU summit, which
will take place in May-June in Yekaterinburg, just in time for the Sochi
Olympics.
The
agreement concerning the simplification of the visa regime will affect
government authorities, journalists, businessmen, scientists, NGO
representatives and also holders of biometric special passports. The document
has been ready for almost a year, yet it hasn’t been signed due to one item
being up to debate. Russia
wanted a complete visa free regime for special passport holders. Europe didn’t want that and offered to sign the general
agreement, leaving the special passports issue for another time. According to
EU press-secretary in Moscow,
the European Union issues about six million visas to Russian citizens every
year. Some EU members and Germany
in particular, were against Russian demands, because there are about 120
thousand special passport holders, and some of them are military personnel.
Also, Europeans had doubts that the issuing procedure for these passports in Russia was made
by the books. According to official data, the MFA issues them to Presidential
Administration staff, the Federation Council apparatus, State Duma, government
officials, and to members of Constitutional and Supreme courts. The
negotiations resulted in Russia
cutting down the number of special passports to 15 thousand, and excluding
military personnel from the holders. In return, Germany agreed to receive the remaining
special passport holders.
According
to Kommersant’s diplomatic source, Germany
made the step towards Russia
after the government officials had a chance to talk to business representatives
and tour operators, who think that the simplification of the visa regime will
give a good boost to the economy and tourism alike. It’s possible that the
decision to better Moscow-Berlin relations has to do with winning some votes
for the ruling party in the upcoming election that will happen later this year.
Yet experts say that the true cause for this consensus was Germany’s hopes that the simplified visa regime
will stop Russia
from forcing a full cancellation of visas.
At
the end of March representatives of the Consulate Department of the Russian MFA
will go to Brussels
in order to set the record straight, initial and then ratify this document. In
return, EU will send an Expert Committee to Moscow in the beginning of April (8.04-12.04)
in order to study our migration flows. Control over illegal migration is one of
the key aspects that Russia
has to deal with before any negotiations about the visa free regime can start.
The European Commission expects a detailed description of territories that will
be available as visa free zones. It also requires the ongoing exchange of
information on migration policies between participants of the treaty. Brussels is concerned that after the cancelation of visas,
which Russia so desperately
wants, vast masses of people from Uzbekistan,
Kyrgyzstan and Tadzhikistan, living in Moscow
for the moment, will come to Europe.
There
are several important steps, which should be taken on the road towards a visa
free regime, and they are posted on official sites of the EU and the Russian
MFA. First of all, it’s the introduction of biometric passports, which can work
in the European system. Also in this block is the question of quickly adding
information to the Interpol database about lost documents. Another important
issue is the illegal migration, which we have already mentioned. The third
block of information has to do with improvement of border control, faster
information exchange about trespassers, effective counter-terrorist measures on
the border. The last block suggests that Russian and European citizens should
have equal rights for traveling. When all four blocks are worked through, the participants
can start negotiations about the cancellation of visas between Russia and EU.
It
seems that Russia
might already be working on some of the mentioned questions. But the
information is very contradictory. For instance, Anvar Azimov, Ambassador of the
Russian MFA, said in an interview on Dozhd, that by 2015 the government is
planning to introduce visas for Uzbekistan
and Tadzhikistan
citizens. And on the next day many information agencies quoted him saying that Russia
cherishes the relations it has with CIS countries and that no visa formalities
are planned for members of the commonwealth.
Yet
last year the Russian president ordered that by 2015 all people coming from CIS
countries use their international passports instead of domestic ones. Still, the
customs union and the common economic space will keep their current regimes,
simplifying border-crossing for member countries. By the way, the document
about CIS members using international passports in order to enter Russia is
already in the State Duma. After that some information leaked in the media
about a full scale visa regime between CIS countries. The Federal Migration
Service is also ready to revise the current visa free regime, based on
multilateral agreements. A representative at FMS said that such a revision is
needed, “yet it’s a very complex matter”.
Russian
diplomats are sure that by the end of 2013 they will be able to work out all
the questions and problems which stand in the way of a visa free regime with
EU. After that it will be possible to start the negotiations. If the talks go
smoothly, we can hope for the document to be signed by late 2014. Yet Europeans
do not see a speedy cancellation of visas between Russia and EU at least in the next
five years.
