“The Russian ministry is carefully recording calls coming from Europe to stop issuing Schengen visas to Russians. Most of these statements come from odious politicians and Russophobes,” Volynkin told TASS.
In this regard, Volynkin stated that in the event of radical decreased consular ties with the rest of the Schengen Agreement member states, Moscow cannot rule out even seemingly unlikely scenarios.
Volynkin also emphasized the Foreign Ministry keeps support for preserving the possibility of mutual travel of Russian and European citizens, while awaiting for EU´s pragmatism and common sense.
“But even whether the hypothetical situation of a complete elimination of Schengen visas issuance for Russians becomes a reality, we could count on the possibility of creating a visa cooperation on a bilateral basis with European nations through individual negotiations,” Volynkin added.
After the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, on February 24, a great number of countries, mostly from the West, activated a set of individual and sectoral sanctions with the intention of inflicting greatest damage on Russia´s economy and politics.
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