ST. PETERSBURG, May 20 (RIA Novosti) – Russia was ready not to halt visa dialogue with the European Union but these talks were frozen as part of sanctions against Russia, a deputy Russian foreign minister said Tuesday.
“We were ready not to suspend [the talks]. The question of resuming the visa dialogue should have been asked before those in favor of political environment had frozen these negotiations as part of the so-called sanctions,” Alexei Meshkov told journalists.
The EU, US and Canada have imposed sanctions on a number of senior Russian officials and businessmen whom the West accuses of involvement in Crimea's reunification with Russia. The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes. The EU also cancelled the June Russia-EU summit in Sochi and froze talks on a visa-free regime.
Moscow has made visa-free travel with the EU a foreign policy priority. Russia submitted a draft deal on scrapping the visa regime to the EU at a Russia-EU summit in 2010, but the EU has been reluctant to move ahead with the issue amid concerns that it could lead to a rise in crime and illegal immigration.
