The European Parliament agreed to ban the issuance of European visas to holders of Russian passports issued in new Russian regions, as well as in Crimea, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
During the plenary session of the European Parliament, held today, on Thursday, 531 deputies voted for this proposal, 7 deputies opposed and 34 abstained from voting.
The text of the proposal read: “In order to ensure a unified visa policy and a unified position on examinations for persons crossing external borders, Russian documents issued in (these) regions, or persons residing in the regions of Ukraine, in Russia or regions, are not issued separated from Georgia, valid documents for issuing a visa and crossing external borders.
At the same time, the authors of the initiative pointed out the need to make exceptions for Russian citizens who had Russian passports before the start of issuing these documents in these regions.
The press service of the European Parliament added that these exceptions should also apply to people who “were minors or incapacitated at the time of issuance of passports.”
“However, people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine can still enter the EU on humanitarian grounds,” he said.
This proposal will be submitted to the European Commission, the EU member states for approval of the exact list of documents that will not be accepted for issuing visas. These restrictions will come into force after their official approval by the Council of the European Union and the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Source: TASS