Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Friday that the bilateral abolition of visas requirement between Russia and the EU was possible.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is in Milan for talks with the Italian leader.
"I think this problem can be solved but, unfortunately, it requires a unanimous decision," Berlusconi said at a news conference with Medvedev.
He said there was a certain resistance to the process in Europe, especially from Eastern European countries.
"This is probably connected to these countries history during the era of the Soviet Union," he said.
Berlusconi said it was necessary to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
"I personally give a commitment to President Medvedev to continue to address this issue at," he said. "I call on our president to include the issue in the next agenda of the meeting of [European] leaders in Brussels," he continued.
Medvedev said earlier this month "the time was ripe" for a visa-free regime between Russia and the EU.
A draft of the agreement on scrapping the visa regime was handed over to the EU at the Russia-EU summit in Rostov-on-Don on May 31-June 1.
MILAN, July 23 (RIA Novosti)
