Russia suspends visa facilitation agreements with a number of Western countries

MOSCOW. April 4 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has endorsed visa-related countermeasures in response to "unfriendly" steps by a number of countries, as seen from a presidential decree published on the official online database of legal information.

In particular, Russia suspended a number of clauses of visa facilitation agreements between Russia and the European Union, Russia and Norway, Russia and Denmark, Russia and Iceland, Russia and Switzerland, and Russia and the Principality of Liechtenstein.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has been tasked with forwarding relevant notifications to the missions of these countries.

"Through interaction with federal executive bodies authorized to make decisions to bar entry to Russia, personal restrictions on entering the Russian Federation and staying in the Russian Federation shall be imposed on foreign citizens and people without citizenship committing unfriendly steps toward Russia, its citizens, or legal entities," it said.

In particular, the decree suspends the effect of the clauses of the agreements envisioning facilitated visa application procedures and five-year multi-entry visas for official delegations and journalists.