The first real step towards an elimination of the visa barrier separating the single European space, including Russia has been done. That is how Chairman of the Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO GrigoryYavlinsky assessed the decision to form a working group to implement the proposal to switch to a non-visa regime for trips by Russian citizens to EU countries.

Grigory Yavlinsky stressed that elimination of the visa barriers to Europe is one of the main programme tasks of YABLOKO in foreign policy. According to Yavlinsky, YABLOKO will use all the possibilities at the disposal of the party and its parliamentary faction to speed up implementation of this idea.

The YABLOKO leader thinks that the first documents aimed at reaching this goal can already be signed during the forthcoming Russia-EU summit to be held in St. Petersburg in May.

The decision to form a working group to implement the proposal on a visa-free regime for trips by Russian citizens to EU countries was adopted during meeting between the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Chairman of Eurocommission Romano Prodi on February 18, 2003.

We should note here that a visa-free regime for trips by Russian citizens to EU countries was one of the main issues to be discussed during the meeting of the deputies from the YABLOKO faction and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, which took place on February 18, 2003. During the meeting deputies from the YABLOKO faction stressed that it was possible and necessary to implement this idea.

This implies the establishment of a special regime for Russian citizens' trips to the European countries instead of Russia's accession to the Schengen agreement. The citizens of Japan, many Latin American and a number of other countries are entitled to visa-free travel to Europe on the basis of such an agreement.

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