(ANSA-AFP) - PRAGUE, AUG 31 - EU foreign ministers on
Wednesday agreed to suspend a 2007 visa facilitation deal with
Russia but stopped short of a wider visa ban as requested by
some member states. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said
the ministers had agreed that relations with Moscow "cannot be
business as usual" and the agreement should be "fully
suspended". Following the informal meeting in Prague, he said
this would make it "more difficult" and "longer" for Russian
nationals to get visas. "It will significantly reduce the number
of new visas issued by the EU member states," he said. In a
concession to eastern EU members who had pushed for a tougher
approach, Borrell said that countries bordering Russia "can take
measures at a national level to restrict entry into the European
Union". But he said any measures would have to conform with
rules for the EU's Schengen common travel zone and he emphasised
it was important that members of Russian civil society should
continue to be able to travel to the EU. (ANSA-AFP).
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