EU may get rules for Russian visa relaxed

The plan to forego Russian visa regulations for European Union nationals has been approved by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, reports Barents Observer.

Lavrov has said Russian visa regulations will be scrapped as part of a scheme to create visa-free travel between EU states and Russia, if EU leaders are willing to participate in the scheme.

However, EU leaders have not committed to the Russian visa scheme and it is unclear as to when a decision will be made as to whether they would join the visa-free programme.

Norway is already in discussions with Russia to establish visa-free travel between the two countries, particularly between the municipalities of Sør-Varanger and Pechenga.

The Worldwide Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in Russian visa and immigration services.