Ondanks 'zaak-Magnitsky' toch akkoord EU en Rusland over visa (en)

BRUSSELS - EU officials will in Moscow on Thursday (21 March) try to pin down details on visa-free travel, despite "regret" on Russia's handling of a prominent human rights case.

The European Commission visit, including a tete-a-tete between commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso i and Russian leader Vladimir Putin i, is part of a good will programme dating back to 1997.

A big point on the agenda is whether to let Russian officials enter the EU without a visa, while relaxing visa rules for Russian businessmen, journalists and students.

"There is now a majority of member states who are in favour of including service passport holders [officials], but modalities still have to be agreed," a commission official told EUobserver i, citing outstanding issues such as passport security features.

"If everything goes well, it [a deal] might take place this summer," he added.

The progress on visas comes despite EU criticism of Putin's behaviour over the past 18 months - on rigged elections, a crackdown on NGOs and dissidents and on lack of respect for the rule of law.

In the latest case, Russian authorities this week closed the investigation into the death in 2009 of anti-corruption activist Sergei Magnitsky, saying there was no crime.

They did it despite evidence he was starved of medication while in prison and later beaten to death after he exposed a tax scam by Russian officials.

For its part, the EU foreign service on Wednesday noted that he suffered "neglect and torture."

But it overlooked its previous threats to take punitive measures, saying only that Russia's decision to end the probe is "regrettable."

Meanwhile, the EU visa-free plan stands in stark contrast with the US, which has imposed a visa ban on Magnitsky-linked Russian officials.

It also flies in the face of European Parliament calls for action.

"Relaxing visa policy risks undermining the EU's approach to human rights in Russia unless it goes together with a concerted effort to … ban EU entry to those officials involved in Magnitsky’s death," Kristiina Ojuland, a Liberal MEP from Estonia, said on Wednesday.

Hannes Swoboda, an Austrian MEP who chairs the Socialist group, called Russia's Magnitsky decision "a provocation."

Foreign ministers from large EU countries see things differently, however.

Poland's Radek Sikorski told the Polish parliament on Wednesday that all Russians should get EU visa-free travel, so long as Moldovans, Georgians and Ukrainians get it too.

Germany's Guido Westerwelle told press in Berlin the same day: "Some of their [Russia's] decisions I cannot comprehend. But we have to keep up discussions with Russia in a spirit of mutual respect. They are our strategic partners."

He added: "If the visa liberalisation for service passports happens, it would be a nice, welcomed progress. It is a very important topic to them. Putin brings it up all the time. So it is important for us too."