Translated material
Green light blue passports
The Russian Foreign Ministry shared his joy: the Europeans were bent over, agreeing to cancel the visas for the owners of service passports. And there, even to the visa -free regime, nearby. Officials hurried - found The New Times
| *Cm. The New Times No. 20 of June 11, 2012 and No. 40 dated December 3, 2012 |
|“The ice has moved,” said Vladimir Chizhov, a permanent representative of Russia under the EU, after Germany and Luxembourg agreed to remove Tabu with the question of visa -free regime for the owners of Russian official passports*. For the sake of this, Moscow also made concessions - only biometric service passports will become visa -free, only 15 thousand people will have (about 50 thousand in Russia in Russia in Russia). The Kremlin donated to the military, government officials and the administrative and technical personnel of the embassies, retaining regional and federal officials, who, however, will have to use their advantages only by going on business trips. Now the parties will be able to again discuss the signing of an almost finished agreement on facilitating the visa regime, according to which journalists, students and businessmen will be able to receive long -term (five and ten years) visas. The next agreement - on the complete abolition of visas - Russia and the EU and the EU must reach by the beginning of 2015, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation on special assignments Anvar Azimov said at a briefing.
The road is blue
The question of official passports became a stumbling block in early 2012, when Russia suddenly added this item to negotiations on facilitating the visa regime - immediately after signing in November 2011 the “road map” on the issue of visas. Europe said its unequivocal no one: the procedure for obtaining such passports is unclear, the concept of official ethics is not close to Russian officials, if you wish, a blue passport can be bought, but the most important thing: “We never understood why we need to create some kind of preferences to a separate group,” explained the New Times, a member of the European Parliament Committee Christine Ouland, “blessings of a non-shameful regime All Russians should use. ” Throughout 2012, this issue remained in a limited state, it was not resolved at the Russia -Esses summit in December. However, the sources of The New Times in diplomatic circles in Brussels said that in December, Vladimir Putin made it clear that Moscow’s demands are not a joke and we need to look for a compromise.
Experts disagree on why official passports have become such a patient for the Kremlin with a topic. “This is an absolutely far -fetched problem that no one in Brussels can understand,” the source of the magazine is surprised. Such a passport does not give diplomatic immunity, does not allow to fly without inspection, and getting a five -year Schengen visa is now not difficult. “Perhaps Putin is simply trying to buy the loyalty of his officials in this way,” Cristina Ouland thinks. There is also an opinion that, having received preferences for service passports, Moscow expects to sigh calmly and bury the idea of canceling visas for everyone else. “We are constantly holding meetings with representatives of the Russian Duma, Foreign Ministry, and the Federation Council. I must say that your politicians and officials are rarely remembered by visa -free regime. Blue passports are interested in them much more, ”Kristina Ouland shares.
If Madame Ouland is right, then Moscow can really be congratulated. “Water is sharpening a stone,” said Fedor Lukyanov, the editor-in-chief of the Russia in Global Policy magazine, “diplomacy is arranged in such a way that if you have long and persistently pressure that the other side does not consider some incredible obstacle, then sooner or later you can achieve its own.” German political scientist Alexander RAR agrees with Lukyanov: “Angel Merkel always advocated relief, if not canceling the visa regime. In the end, they realized that official passports are a fundamental issue for Russia, and decided not to block further negotiations. ” The diplomatic sources of The New Times in Brussels added that in order to preserve their faces, Europeans asked at least to reduce the number of those who could use these privileges - Moscow willingly agreed.
According to Christina Ouland, in Germany, the visa issue is actively lobbying for German business. About 6.5 thousand German companies operate in Russia, the turnover in 2012 amounted to $ 73.9 billion, putting Germany in third place among Russian trading partners after China and the Netherlands. Russia is also in third place in turnover, but already for the entire European Union - after the United States and the same China. “This is a very expensive price that we will pay if other countries agree with this unexpected decision of Berlin,” said Ouland the New Times. - I am very critical of this. It is no secret that it is often the owners of such passports in Russia that can be involved in violating human rights, corruption, money laundering, all that contradicts not only European values, but also laws. ”
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It's no secret that it is often the owners of official passports in Russia that can be involved in violation of human rights, corruption, money laundering
» Supplement for urgency
However, according to the source of the magazine in Brussels, it is too early to rejoice at the Russian authorities. Visas for official passports have not yet been canceled, the EU just agreed to discuss this issue to determine clear criteria, who, how, for what time would receive them and for what cases to use. “Today, service passports hang in some fog, we only know that in Russia a different approach to them than in Europe. It is difficult to say how much time it will take to come to something specific. In addition, Europe wants to prescribe the terms of the partial or complete cancellation of the contract in case of failure to fulfill one of the parties to its obligations. ”
A focus on signing everything and all by 2015, expressed by the Russian Foreign Ministry, in Brussels also seems to be the next populism. “We have the impression that Russia is fixed not on the implementation of the agreements reached, but on a five -year plan in three years. Moreover, Russian officials like to give out a date taken from the ceiling through the press, and then wait for us to say that. And we can say one thing: in order to create a Schengen zone, it took us seven years. Look at Bulgaria and Romania - despite the deadlines set earlier, they have not yet entered Schengen. We would be happy to cancel visas with Russia tomorrow. But if it takes more time to fulfill all the conditions, we will work as much as we need. ”
Work, I must admit, a lot. Based on the 2011 agreement, Russia should carry out the necessary reforms in the directions: the safety of documents, the protection of borders, the fight against illegal migration and corruption, the observance of human rights and the principle of the rule of law. “For more than a year has passed now, but Russia has not done almost anything,” says Christina Ouland.
However, despite the fact that the Europeans did not wait for real steps from Moscow, two delegations were sent from Europe to Russia - in September and November 2012. The first investigated the process of issuing documents from receiving a passport to its direct seal in Goznak. Based on the results of the trip, a report was written, which at the insistence of Moscow is still not subject to disclosure. However, The New Times managed to find out that there is not enough good thing for Russia in that report. “If Moscow praised Moscow for biometric passports,” said the source of the magazine, “then in all the rest there is a complete disaster.” The entire package of documents can be faked for a passport, and if you want to buy, just as you can buy a passport itself. New, biometric. Things were no better with the second batch of auditors who came to see how Russian borders are guarded - from Estonia and Ukraine to Kazakhstan. The border demarcation, the interaction of the border service with the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs - all this raised questions that made even Vladimir Putin to respond very quickly: without waiting for an official report, which was ready only by the end of December, he said on December 12 in the Federal Assembly that it was necessary to reconsider the regime, according to which citizens of some countries of the former USSR could enter Russia through internal passports.
Russian experts also went to Europe to see how the boundaries are guarded there and documents are issued, and from April 8 to 12, the third EU expert mission will come to Russia. The topic of the visit is the so -called third block of the 2011 agreement: the fight against crime, money laundering, terrorism and corruption. The Europeans can only guess about how impression will remain. “The problem is not that Russia has something to work,” says the source of the magazine, “we are all not perfect. But the Russians think that they can sit on the sofa and wait for 2015. ”
Flying over Russia
Moscow, meanwhile, does not get tired of throwing surprises to the European Union. They only responded to joyful speeches about blue passports, as the Ministry of Transport notified the airline flying to Russia, which, according to the law on personal data entering into force, they will be required to provide all information about passengers traveling to Russia, including those who simply fly over the country's territory. According to experts, passenger traffic between Russia and the EU is 19 million a year, 9 million of which fly with European carriers. Another 18 million fly over Russian expanses, half of them with Western companies. “When a similar law was adopted in America in the framework of the fight against terrorism, it took the EU two years to approve formalities,” says the source of the magazine in Brussels, “do you think you can do the same with Russia in four months, understanding the Russian level of information protection?” Yes, it just contradicts European laws! "
At first glance, there is no direct connection between the requirements of the Ministry of Transport and visa negotiations, but the head of the EU press and information department in Russia Soren or the New Times said: “In our world, everything is interconnected, and this decision is alarming. The European side was not only not asked what she thinks about this, we were not trite. ” The critical sources of the magazine in Brussels made the situation sharply: “Give a finger to Moscow, it will bite off the hand on the shoulder. The problem is that we will never come to the visa -free regime. ” But maybe the Kremlin is not really needed?
Photo: ITAR-TASS