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MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it would insist on the need to defend the rights of ethnic Russian minorities in Latvia and Estonia at a summit with the EU starting Thursday.
The position of the two Baltic states' ethnic Russian minorities - many of whom are classed as "non-citizens" - has been a bone of contention for some years in relations with Moscow, and has contributed to a deterioration of relations.
"Russia will draw the EU's attention to the necessity to ... ensure the rights of ethnic Russian minorities in Latvia and Estonia," ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said.
Kamynin said agreements on visa regulations and readmission would be "a visible achievement of the new quality of relations [between Russia and the EU]."
The EU Council of Ministers said Tuesday that the visa agreement would facilitate the process of issuing visas for up to 90 days for several categories of Russian and EU citizens, including students, civil servants, cultural workers, and journalists.
The agreement will not cover Ireland or the United Kingdom, which are not members of Europe's Schengen Agreement on borders and immigration policy, or Denmark.
The readmission document aims to ensure swift and efficient procedures to identify, transport, and repatriate those who enter Russia or the EU illegally, or who stay beyond the term of their visas. The readmission agreement also excludes Denmark.
The summit, due to be held in the southern Russian resort of Sochi, will also outline further steps to implement "road maps" on the four Russia-EU "common spaces" adopted at a Moscow summit on May 10, 2005, as well as discuss energy cooperation.
Kamynin said the Iranian nuclear program, as well as the situations in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq, would also be discussed.
