Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s ambassador to the EU, said on Thursday (20 May) that the EU and Russia had agreed in 2003 on the lifting of visa requirements as a “long-term goal”. “It is high time that something more concrete is introduced,” he said. Chizhov added that Russia would reciprocate “tomorrow morning” should the EU decide to abolish visa requirements for short-term visits. But progress was being blocked by member states that were holding on to “phobias” from the past, Chizhov said.

Eastern Partnership

The chances of a binding timetable for dropping visa requirements appear slim, and even a less concrete road-map appears out of reach for the time being. Several EU member states oppose granting Russia privileges that the EU does not give the six members of the Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine). Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, said in mid-May that his government backed lifting visa requirements for Russian citizens, but not before doing the same for the countries of the Eastern Partnership.

Sharing technology

It is uncertain that more progress will be achieved on the other main item on the bilateral agenda, a ‘modernisation partnership’ that was agreed in principle at the last EU-Russia summit in Stockholm in November. This is intended to ease Russian access to technology developed in the EU, in return for domestic reform. After an exchange of concept papers, officials are now working on a possible joint statement, or at least a more general expression of intent.

On another longstanding area of discussion, accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Russia will complete membership talks in a “matter of months”, according to Chizhov, who claims that his country has met 95% of membership requirements.

Russia’s membership bid faltered last year when Russia announced that it would join only as a customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus – both of which are far from meeting WTO requirements. But last Saturday (22 May), Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that the customs union would not take effect in July, as previously planned.

Next week’s summit will be hosted by Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s president, Sergey Lavrov, foreign minister, and Elvira Nabiullina, economy minister. The EU will be represented by Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, Catherine Ashton, the foreign policy chief, and Karel De Gucht, the European commissioner for trade.