Visa -free pressure

Russia presented to Europe an ultimatum

Russia put an ultimatum to the European Union: either in a year we go to the finish line in the issue of canceling visas, or ...

The turn of the Russian consulate in the Hague

A strict warning by the European visa was issued by Ambassador on November 27, on special assignments of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Anvar Azimov: “If by the end of 2013 there is no breakthrough in terms of developing an agreement (according to the visa -free regime), Russia will draw conclusions for itself.” Moscow, the diplomat said, is ready to stock up on for another year: "You know, it is difficult to harness Russians, but then the blow is adequate and symmetrical ..."

Europeans did not have to wait for the promised year. Demonstrating the seriousness of the intentions, Moscow recently announced: from December 1, 2012, the crews of aircraft owned by airlines from the EU countries will not be able to go beyond the transit zone of the airport without a Russian visa. According to the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrei Karlov, the measure is introduced "in response to similar actions by the European Union." However, the head of the EU press and information department in Russia, Sönn orrius doubted that it was Brussels that "began first": "I did not know anything on this." In any case, the diplomat explained, "questions with visas for crews are resolved at national levels, and not in Brussels."

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The cost of Russian citizenship in the black market is from $ 5 thousand to $ 7 thousand - for an ordinary migrant worker, the money is huge, but not unbearable

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However, the Russian Foreign Ministry does not at all believe that the introduction of visas for crews indicates a deterioration in relations with the EU or tightening the Russian position. “It is only about the abolition of a moratorium on visas, which was introduced by us as an act of goodwill in 2010. We just take a step back, and do not tighten the rules at all, ”the Russian position of the deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Yuri Maty, explained The New Times, explained to The New Times.

Putin will judge us

One way or another, the abolition of the Moitorial for visas occurred at the stage of preparation for the anniversary, 30th Summit “Russia-Es”, which should be held in Brussels on December 21: the Kremlin has high hopes for this meeting, including on visa issues.

However, the official structures of the EU do not yet lose optimism. “In Brussels, it is expected that Moscow will agree to sign a draft revised 2006 agreement on facilitating the visa regime,” Sön orrius told the magazine. “We agreed that we will give long -term visas to students and young specialists.”

Crusts for the elect

The new agreement is good for everyone, but there is one “but” - the question of Russian service passports, which in the European version of the project of the new agreement, is not said, is not said. Moscow insists on the abolition of visas for their owners, Europe resists*.

The reasons are simple: on the one hand, at the Russian level of corruption, anyone can become the owner of a blue crust. According to unofficial data, the cost of such a passport in the black market is from $ 20 thousand to $ 40 thousand, depending on the region. “Anyway,” explains Sören orrius, “Europe does not see the reasons why it is necessary to distinguish some privileged group of Russian citizens. The task of negotiations is to come to a visa -free regime for millions of Russian tourists. This year, the embassies of the Schengen zones issued a visa of more than 6 million Russians, our task is to simplify the life of all these people. ”

I asked my colleagues from the Russian FMS: are they ready for the abolition of visas tomorrow? They laughed and answered: "Of course not"

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The owners of Russian “blue” passports are middle -level officials, managers and security officials. There are approximately 50 thousand of them, which is many times higher than the number of such passports throughout the united Europe. “The point is not only in quantity, but in the fact that Russia does not have a state service culture,” the director of the Center for Political Information, Alexei Mukhin, explained to The New Times. - European officials travel on service passports on official trips. And a regular passport is taken on vacation. Are Russian officials also act? I doubt".

The patience of the ambassador on special instructions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Anvara Azimov ended

Why Moscow attaches such a value to the item about official passports is not easy to understand. On the one hand, there are already countries in the European Union where the owners of such a passport are not required: Great Britain, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Hungary, the latter is in the Schengen agreement. True, if you enter Hungary according to the blue passport, further promotion in Europe will be illegal. The catch is that Moscow will not be able to conclude new agreements of this kind: the EU countries gave the visa issue with Russia to the mercy of the European Commission and are unlikely to discuss something separately. But on the other hand, most European embassies received an unofficial signal from their worldly: five -year visas in blue passports - so Europe tried to appease Moscow bureaucrats. Alas, it did not help. Russia in this matter stood tight. “We will not bend anymore,” said Azimov’s ambassador.

“Russian society is watching these negotiations with great attention,” says Alexei Mukhin. “When it realizes that our officials were overwhelmed by negotiations because Europe refused to indulge their personal whim, probably people will not say thanks to them.”

Game of carrots

Many analysts agree on: in fact, Europeans are not going to cancel visas at all. Brussels is aware: the borders of Russia with the countries of Central Asia are poorly guarded, and if today migrants settled on Russian territory, when they cancel the visa, they will be opened further. Europe is more attractive: there is no danger there that the migrant will be sold in slavery for a construction site, but with some efforts you can get refugee status, benefits and municipal housing. Of course, the abolition of visas for Russians will not mean at all that citizens of Uzbekistan or Tajikistan will be able to use the same rights. But Europe takes into account Russian corruption: the cost of Russian citizenship in the black market is from $ 5 thousand to $ 7 thousand - for an ordinary migrant worker the money is huge, but not at all unbearable.

There is a political moment. “A few years ago, it was beneficial for European leaders to show their voters that they were working with Russia: the idea of ​​a visa -free regime was popular,” says Alexei Mukhin. - Then Russia immediately revealed its arms, several investment projects were implemented. But then in the European top they thought better of it: in the conditions of the economic crisis, as well as a new stream of migrants from the Balkan countries ** the idea of ​​getting migrants from Russia will also not add political points to them. Maybe there will be no mass migration, but do you explain this to voters? ”

The irritation of Moscow is caused by the holy confidence that all obstacles to establish a visa -free regime are far -fetched. In Russia, in the end, biometric passports have already been introduced, and an agreement on the reactmissance is valid between Brussels and Moscow, which provides for the repatriation of illegal migrants at the expense of the country from which they arrived. It turns out that the EU plays with Russia, using a visa -free regime, like a carrot that a donkey is hanged in front of the nose, so that it walks without stopping, behind the constantly retiring prey. “The tightening of negotiations in Europe has decisively any explanation,” said Sergey Karaganov, the dean of the faculty of the world economy and the world policy of the Higher School of Economics (HSE). “For that matter, European passports are also easily bought and sold.” The only reason Europe does not want to cancel the visa, the expert believes is that "this is their last lever of pressure on Russia on a variety of issues - from economic to human rights."

Landmark - Sochi

The head of the press and information department of the EU representative office in Russia, Sören orrius hopes that common diplomatic meaning will triumph

The maximum task for Moscow is to achieve a complete abolition of visas to the 2014 Olympic Games. Moreover, the Kremlin is not ready for one -sided steps following the example of Ukraine, which canceled in 2005 a visa for EU citizens before the Eurovision Song Contest. “For us, this option would be flawed. Let the EU cancel the visa, and we will think, ”Azimov ambassador told reporters. However, there is no need to count on the one -sided steps of Brussels at all. The source of The New Times in the European Commission said: in the near future there will be no visa cancellation. True, Europeans are also not ready to openly declare this. “We are at the very beginning of the journey,” said Soren orrius. - Look at Schengen: How much time and effort did we need to create a zone without borders? We, Europeans, are slow, but we do everything wisely. ” According to the diplomat, Russian officials also understand the impossibility of a quick solution to the issue: “I asked my colleagues from the Russian FMS: are they ready for the abolition of visas tomorrow? *** Those laughed and answered:“ Of course not. ”

But the interlocutor of The New Times in Brussels speaks much sharper: the problem, according to him, also in the “monstrous unprofessionalism” of some Russian officials who, apparently, have never encountered European principles of work: “They reason like this: since the boss said, the subordinate must fulfill. But they do not understand that in Europe in a different way: if the instruction of the chief one way or another is directly conflicting with the law, no one will fulfill it. ”

By the way, the remarks of Azimov’s ambassador regarding the “symmetrical answer”, the European official noted, the excessive evidence that Russia is still inhabited by the coordinate system: “What cancellation of visas can be discussed if even diplomats allow ultimatic statements, and even on such an insignificant occasion.”

Photo: Flickr.com/snorrrlax, RIA Novosti, Sfedu.ru