[autom.vertaling] Rusland om op visum-vrije overeenkomst met de EU aan te dringen (en)

Russia is hoping to get a step closer to visa-free travel to European Union countries when an EU-Russia ministerial meeting is held in Moscow tomorrow.

The Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov will meet the EU delegation to prepare for the EU-Russia summit on 6 November, reports the Russian foreign ministry website.

The EU delegation will include the Irish and Italian foreign ministers, Brian Cowen and Franco Frattini as well as Commissioner for Enlargement Günter Verheugen, and EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.

The Irish and Italian ministers are being invited as future and present Presidents of the European Council respectively.

Putin failed on visas last time

According to the Russian foreign ministry website, the Russian delegation is again hoping to press its case for the visa-free travel regime to EU countries.

During the last EU-Russia summit in May the Russian president Vladimir Putin failed to convince EU leaders to scrap their present visa regime for Russian citizens visiting EU member states.

The ministers are also set to discuss the Kaliningrad transit agreement and the results of the controversial presidential election in Chechnya.

Russian speaking minority

Mr Ivanov will raise the problem of the human rights of Russian speaking people living in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, said foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko.

"We hope Latvia and Estonia's possible admission to the EU will not cause rifts in the Russian-European partnership", the statement said.