The Russian Foreign Ministry hopes that Russia and the European Union will articulate their visions of a mutual visa-free regime during the forthcoming Russia-EU summit.
Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday that his country "would continue to seek a visa-free regime with Russia."
Lavrov said that Russia sees no barriers to the introduction of visa-free travel, "even starting from tomorrow."
"I see the political will of many EU members to introduce a visa-free regime, a will expressed at the highest level. I know that certain EU bodies in charge of it are currently discussing the issue," Lavrov said.
He said that a major obstacle to scrapping the visa regime was the lack of consensus between the EU members, as the positions of some EU states affect the Union's readiness to strike a deal.
"The most important point here is to avoid new artificial requirements, which might be put forward with the intention of hindering the political agreement," Lavrov said.
There are a few problems to be ironed out before any deal is reached, such as the introduction of biometric passports and how Russian borders with non-EU countries would be affected.
"I hope that during the Rostov-on-Don [Russia-EU] summit, to take place on May 31 and June 1, the Russian and the EU leadership will be able to articulate their position on the deal," Lavrov went on.
Lavrov said that Russia and Finland have begun work on a bilateral deal to simplify procedures to issue work permits, which has long been a matter of concern for foreigners working in Russia.
All foreigners are required to register with the Russian authorities within three working days of their arrival in the country.
"The European commission showed no interest in it, so we started to prepare inter-governmental agreements on the terms of temporary employment on each other's territory with governments of certain EU member states," Lavrov said.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in an interview with Russia Today television last December that in 2010 Italy could propose introducing a visa-free regime with Russia.
Russia's EU envoy to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, said in late February that talks on visa-free travel between Russia and the European Union are being hindered by political issues.
MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
