Visa-Free Travel to the EU for Russians Can Wait: Finnish Minister
Published:
24 July 2003 y., Thursday
Finland's Interior Minister Kari Rajamaeki on Monday said visa-free travel to the European Union for Russians would not happen anytime soon due to considerable security concerns.
"I think that the abolition of visa requirement between the EU and Russia... is a very long-term goal," Rajamaeki told AFP.
"There are problems concerning the credibility of Russian travel documents, border control -- especially in the south -- organized crime, drugs and the number of illegally resident third country nationals in Russia," he noted.
"A hasty decision could cause serious risks to the internal security of the EU," Rajamaeki pointed out.
Earlier this month Richard Wright, the head of the EU delegation to Moscow, said the bloc was ready to start talks with Kremlin on the transition to a regime of visa-free travel between the Union and Russia.
The first technical discussions on the topic would take place prior to the next EU-Russia summit, scheduled for November, he added.
Šaltinis:
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Brussels: Bush accepted Yuschenko's proposal and would visit Ukraine
more »
US President George W. Bush is attending a special summit between the US and the EU in Brussels today
more »
Ukraine's new leaders have stopped short of rejecting membership in a new Moscow-led economic bloc of four ex-Soviet republics, but say the plan could hurt their European Union aspirations
more »
The Kremlin signaled a fundamental foreign policy shift today, acknowledging that two former Soviet republics, Ukraine and Georgia, are no longer part of the Russian orbit.
more »
President of the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh believes that Sochi (March 6-7, 2003) Agreements must provide the basis for negotiations with Georgia
more »
President Seeks Participation In Transdniester Talks, Multinational Black Sea Task Force
more »
Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis said the Latvian Foreign Ministry has knowingly proposed a draft interstate declaration which cannot be accepted by Russia
more »
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev has proposed forming the Union of Central Asian States
more »
Badri Bitsadze, the Commander of the Georgian Border Guard Department, denied allegations made by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov claiming that “terrorists” are entering Chechnya from Georgia
more »
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili welcomed the decision of the Parliament to reduce the number of parliamentarians from the current 235 to 150, referring to it as “historic”
more »