The Ministry of Economic Development pointed to the complication of EU procedures for obtaining Schengen for Russians

Some countries of the European Union (EU) artificially make it difficult for Russians to obtain Schengen visas, creating unfavorable conditions for them.This was stated to journalists on December 6 by Nikita Kondratyev, Director of the Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Tourism Forum "Travel Hub. Travel!".

"We know that there are certain difficulties with obtaining a Schengen, this is a purely political story. It is clear that countries unfriendly to us are deliberately delaying the process," TASS quoted him as saying.

Kondratiev noted that despite the fact that the number of visa denials for Russians has not increased, the process of obtaining visas has become much more complicated and longer, which often leads to disruption of trips. For example, a visa may be issued just before departure, but a person will not physically catch the flight.

According to the head of the department, the problem of seizure of passports of Russians at the border is not acute now. He recalled the right of border guards to refuse entry in case of errors in the documents and urged tourists and travel agencies to carefully check the data in passports before traveling.

Earlier, on October 24, the head of the autonomy within Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik said that Serbia received a request from the European Commission on the need to introduce a visa regime with Russia. It was noted that the republic does not intend to fulfill this requirement.

Before that, on October 4, it was reported that the European Union may force Bosnia and Herzegovina to introduce a visa regime with Russia, China, Turkey and a number of other countries for the opportunity to join the association. It was noted that the condition was imposed in order to receive €6 billion in financial assistance from the European Union under the Growth Plan program for countries seeking EU membership.