Russia retains visa simplifications for Europeans visiting the country, despite an intention to respond to the suspension of such simplifications for Russian citizens in Europe, Director of the Consular Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Aleksey Klimov told Sputnik.
In September 2022, the European Union, Denmark, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland decided to suspend agreements with Russia on mutual visa simplifications, suspending all visa preferences for all categories of Russian nationals.
"In order to maintain contacts with citizens of European countries, we approved an approach, according to which the Russian side will continue – unlike the Europeans – to partially adhere to the provisions of the mentioned visa agreements in terms of simplified procedures for issuing visas and the validity period of such visas," Klimov said.
He also said that the foreign ministry had prepared a bill that provides for increasing visa fees and canceling simplified procedures, but these measures would not be applied to all categories of European citizens.