Visa Issue Always Fueled Russia-West Tensions, Peskov Says

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY (Sputnik) - The topic of visas has always been a stumbling block in the relations between Russia and the West, but now the West seems to have lost all restraint in this matter and Russia is sure to respond to these unprecedented steps, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

"Well, this has always been a sticking point, although in the old days we managed to make serious progress: there were special visas for students, for culture experts, for diplomats and so on. But now, you see, in this kind of hard-to-explain anger, the West does not shy away from anything, that is they need to report on new, as it seems to them, blows that they inflict on us," Peskov told the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin TV show on the Rossiya 24 channel.

The spokesman admitted that the visa restrictions, which the European Union recently agreed upon, may cause some inconvenience to many Russian citizens. Meanwhile, the official said that this is the hard reality that Russia has to reconcile with and be "resolute, brave and follow the path that we have chosen."

Speaking about Moscow's response to the EU's new visa policies, Peskov said that reciprocation was inevitable.

"You know... they [response measures] can be asymmetrical and symmetrical. There is a 100% chance that we will take measures. What will they look like? Well, you could say that they will be in our interest," Peskov said.

On August 31, the EU member states reached a political agreement to suspend the EU-Russia visa facilitation deal and agreed to prepare recommendations on what to do with the existing visas to Russians.