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Russia complains of ‘Cold War’ prejudice in EU visa talks

EU Observer

Russia’s EU ambassador has blamed Cold-War-era prejudice in some EU countries for lack of progress in visa-free talks.

Vladimir Chizhov told EUobserver that negotiations on letting Russian officials, or “service passport” holders, enter the EU without a visa are moving forward.

He said Russia agreed to limit the number of eligible people to those with passports which have electronic security features.

But he noted: “Some ‘fears’ still persist among certain EU countries, however ridiculous and reminiscent of the times of the Cold War they may seem, thus making the rest of facilitations envisaged hostage of their past and [creating] distrust unworthy of a genuine strategic partnership that we are striving for.”

He said the Russian officials in question are “mostly … engaged in further developing Russia-EU relations.”

His thinly veiled allusion to objections by former Soviet and former Communist EU member countries comes shortly before the next EU-Russia summit, expected in December.

The twice-yearly meetings have failed to yield concrete results in recent years.

One EU source said there could be a visa deal in time for December. But two other EU contacts voiced scepticism.

Russia has a few bargaining chips up its sleeve: It could drop punitive tariffs on EU car imports in return for a visa deal, or it could threaten to re-impose passenger data transfer demands on EU airlines.