The century of Schengen is not in sight

For 10 years now, Russia has been negotiating with the European Union on providing a visa-free regime. The other day, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov admitted: Europe does not abolish visas for political reasons. And at a meeting in Luxembourg with his European colleagues, Lavrov did not succeed in making the visa regime easier, at least for Russian officials who hold official passports. He also did not get an answer as to why Ukrainian officials could enter the territory of the European Union without visas, but Russian officials could not. Experts answered this question to PublicPost and explained why Russian officials are seeking to quickly obtain a visa-free regime with the EU and what Europe fears.

On October 8, Sergei Lavrov, speaking before the Association of European Businesses, said that the EU was delaying the resolution of the issue not for technical reasons (issues of customs procedures, biometric passports and registration of foreigners are being successfully resolved), but for political reasons. “Under the conditions of the principle of solidarity in the EU, or rather, perverted interpretations of the principles of solidarity, there is an opinion that it is politically unacceptable to cancel visas to the Russian Federation while the visa regime with the Eastern Partnership countries is in effect. If this is so, then this is a politicized approach,” the minister said. He wanted clarification on October 14 at a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. The meeting lasted 4 hours instead of the planned one and a half hours. Russia insisted on easing the visa regime for holders of service passports. The EU opposed it. This round of negotiations has been going on for about a year, Kommersant writes, European ministers stubbornly refuse to provide visa-free access to Russian officials.

Visa-free entry for Russian officials is just one of the subtopics of the general conversation about the abolition of visas with the European Union, which Russia has been stubbornly pursuing since 2002. Experts agree with Minister Lavrov and call the issue political. “Simplifying the visa regime for Russian officials is inappropriate, especially now, when in Europe there is a lot of talk about undemocratic behavior and corruption among the Russian apparatus,” says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the magazine “Russia in Global Affairs,” “The media picture of Russia in Europe is now very rotten. Against this background, any things that are interpreted as steps towards Russia will be poorly received in Europe." Kirill Koktysh, associate professor of the department of political theory at MGIMO, agrees with him - any European politician who would offer a visa-free regime for Russia after the tough resolutions of PACE and the European Parliament would come under fire of justified criticism.

Both European and Russian diplomats understand that in such a situation, easing the visa regime looks unnatural and incredible, the political scientist believes. “It is obvious that in Luxembourg the issue was raised at the wrong time and place. But since it is still being raised, it is being raised not in terms of negotiations, but in terms of bargaining. Europe may impose restrictions on a number of Russian officials on the Magnitsky List.” And in this regard, the most reasonable thing is to generate a reciprocal bargaining: Russia demands the introduction of visa benefits for officials, so that later this requirement can be removed in exchange for the removal of the same “Magnitsky List” from the agenda. This is a logical negotiating paradigm,” believes Kirill Koktysh. .

In addition to the unsatisfactory image of Russian officials, the problem of the visa-free regime is associated with the Eastern Partnership, an EU political project created in 2008. The goal of the Eastern Partnership is to bring Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan closer to the European Union. “The Eastern Partnership program was launched mainly to appease two political leaders - Saakashvili and Yushchenko. Their plans to join NATO and the European Union were recognized as unrealistic, but some kind of compensation had to be provided,” says Koktysh. Politically, the Eastern Partnership countries are considered more privileged in their relations with the European Union. “And if Russia is given a visa-free regime, but they are not, it will be a political scandal. It will turn out that they were lured and lured and encouraged in every possible way, and when it came to serious things, then Russia was given, and they were given a slap on the nose,” says Fedor Lukyanov. In such a situation, it is difficult for Russia to count on the abolition of visas until the Eastern Partnership countries receive a visa-free regime. “And they won’t give it to them for a long time, because there are real problems associated with them,” the expert adds, “Ukraine and Moldova have been seeking the abolition of visas for a long time, but they are not given anything, because there are much more problems with them than with Russia. That’s why that there will be no flow from Russia to Europe, and from Moldova, even with a visa regime, already half the country is there. The same thing is with Ukraine.”

Nevertheless, Ukraine is more consistent in its desire to obtain a visa-free pass to Europe, a course that the government of President Viktor Yushchenko has taken. Under him, Ukraine introduced visa-free travel for all EU citizens, expecting a similar step from the European Union. “But this did not happen. True, then Ukrainian officials were granted a visa-free regime. This was under a different government, which was then considered pro-Western. They somehow wanted to encourage it. The European Union has a lot of complaints about the current authorities of Ukraine, they don’t want to encourage it. But they also canceled Now a visa-free regime for Ukrainian officials would mean a real demarche,” believes Fyodor Lukyanov.

The abolition of visas for Ukrainian officials cannot be explained by anything other than politics, says Ekaterina Kiseleva, associate professor of the Department of International Law of the RUDN University, author of the book “International Law and the Visa-Free Regime between Russia and the EU.” “No matter how loyal the EU may be towards Ukraine, the readmission agreement, which the EU views as a mandatory prerequisite for any simplification and abolition of the visa regime, was concluded first with Russia, and then, following our model, with Ukraine. What the EU is for them They canceled visas for official passports, but they refuse them for us, this can only be explained by political considerations,” says Kiseleva. She is confident that the issue of a visa-free regime for Russian officials will be resolved positively only if there is political will on the part of the European Union.