EC terminates agreement on visa facilitation with Russia

The European Commission approved a proposal to completely stop the visa facilitation agreement with Russia.

Report informs citing TASS that a decision to terminate the visa facilitation agreement with the Russian Federation may be approved within a week.

The EC representative hopes that non-Schengen countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and other EU countries will also reduce the number of visas issued to Russians.

According to the European Commissioner, the Russian citizens will face longer and more expensive procedures for obtaining visas to the EU, and it will become more difficult to obtain multiple visas. At the same time, the EC intends to create more convenient conditions for issuing visas to "students, journalists, dissidents and representatives of civil society" from Russia.

The European Commission submitted a proposal to the EU Council on the non-recognition of Russian passports issued in the liberated territories of Ukraine.

As noted by the European Commissioner, the EU countries will have the right to refuse visas to Russian citizens who "may threaten the security of these countries and the EU." According to him, the Russians now have up to 1 million multiple-entry Schengen visas, and these visas can be reviewed.