Russia, U.S. to exchange notes on easing visa regime

Russia and the United States will exchange notes on facilitating the visa regime on November 19, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday. “Many months of negotiations on easing mutual visa restrictions have come to a close,” Ryabkov said. According to Ryabkov, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who will be attending the East Asian summit, will exchange the notes with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Bali. The exchanging of notes will complete all the procedures required at the moment, the deputy foreign minister said, adding that the next step would be ratifying the documents as the visa facilitation agreement will introduce three-year multi-entry visas. Ratification will be essential because Russian law does not provide for multi-entry three-year visas, he said. “The exchange of notes and visa facilitation is only the first important step toward visa-free trips for 90 days, as Russia has with many countries, including in the West,” he said.