Russia May Reconsider EU Diplomat Entry Rules if Discrimination Stops

MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/. Moscow could consider revising the notification procedure for EU diplomats’ entry if Brussels stops discriminating against employees of Russian diplomatic missions and consular institutions, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"It’s our conviction that in any situation we must leave the door open for diplomacy and diplomats, but no one should forget that reciprocity remains the basic principle of diplomatic relations. We talk about this regularly, and we talked about retaliatory measures. If the member states of the European Union and the states of the Schengen area stop taking discriminatory measures against employees of diplomatic missions and consular institutions of our country, we will be ready to reconsider the application of the notification procedure," the diplomat said at a briefing.

"We introduced the notification procedure purely as a response. The Russian side firmly adheres to the opinion that it’s crucial to maintain diplomatic channels of communication, including with countries that pursue an unfriendly or even openly hostile policy towards our country, towards Russia."

On new entry procedure to Russia for EU diplomats

From June 15, employees of the diplomatic missions of the EU countries, some countries of the Schengen area, as well as the EU representative office in Moscow must cross the Russian border according to a new notification procedure. This applies to diplomatic, consular, administrative and technical staff, as well as adult members of their families accredited in Russia.

According to a Russian Foreign Ministry memo, notification must be given when traveling by land and air, with the exception of direct flights between Russia and the country of citizenship without transfers to the EU if you have a ticket from the departure point to the destination. For example, if a diplomat is flying from his country to Russia in transit through a third country outside the European Union, no notification is required, whereas a connecting flight in an EU member state will require an advance notification.

To enter the country, European diplomats now need to send a verbal note of the established standard on paper and its electronic duplication to the Russian Foreign Ministry in advance.

The document must be accompanied by a Russian translation.

The deadline for submitting a notification for EU diplomatic missions employees directly depends on the deadlines that the EU countries have set for Russian diplomats. Only working days according to the Russian production calendar are taken into account when calculating.