Russian President Dmitry Medvedev expects activation of a dialogue on elimination of visas with EU.
"I expect that such discussions will be not only continued but also maximally intensified," Medvedev said on Saturday at a press conference on results of talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during his two-day visit to Germany.
A draft agreement on the issue, which was drawn up by Russia, was presented at the EU-Russia summit in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don last week.
Medvedev said earlier Russia was ready to scrap visa requirements for residents of EU states "tomorrow," if the EU was prepared to do the same for Russians. He said Russian society was ready for the move.
However, the deputy head of the Delegation of the European Union to Russia Michael Webb said earlier this week Russia should not expect a quick transition to a visa-free regime with the EU.
Medvedev said that the visa-free regime is very important both for Russian citizens and for the EU citizens. "If we do so, that will qualitatively change our lives, make us real, true strategic partners," he continued.
He confessed that there are certain fears over the visa-free regime.
"However, it is obvious that it is necessary to be more attentive to people who come [to a country], and necessary to fight crime," Medvedev said.
"And if we talk about ordinary visits the attitude should be different," he added saying that Russia is ready for visa abolition.
"We have changed an internal legislature; [we] are introducing new registration system, biometric data in passports," Medvedev said. "We had a very large number of readmission agreements, which are the important requirement to scrap visas."
Russia and the EU announced their "long-term" plans on the visa-free regime at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum in 2003. Last November, the sides agreed in Stockholm to start a long-term Partnership for Modernization, which includes a commitment to scrap visa requirements.
Russia's envoy to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, said last week that Russia and the EU should speed up the process of abolishing visa requirements.
MESEBERG, June 5 (RIA Novosti)
