Diplomats expect progress on Russia, EU visa-free deal

At their meeting on Tuesday, top Russian and European negotiators on bilateral visa-free travel agreements may finish the list of joint measures needed to mutually scrap visas.

Vladimir Voronkov, director of the foreign ministry’s European Cooperation Department and Russia’s chief negotiator on visa-free travel deal with Europe, will meet with European Commission Director General for Home Affairs Stefano Manservisi.

“Today it might be announced that we finished work to edit this document, which paves the way to a visa-free regime,” a source in the Russian embassy in the EU said.

He said the document could be approved either at the Russia-EU summit in Brussels late this year, or at a meeting of the standing Russia-EU partnership council at the level of justice and interior ministers, due in October.

President Dmitry Medvedev said in mid-June the stage-by-stage plan to lift the visa requirement will be finalized by the end of July.

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