Federation Council approves bill suspending visa preferences for certain categories of EU citizens

MOSCOW. April 26 (Interfax) - The Federation Council approved on Tuesday a bill suspending certain visa preferences for citizens of most European countries.

The bill establishes a visa system for diplomatic passport holders from EU member states, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Liechtenstein and scraps visa preferences for members of official delegations, national and regional governments, parliaments, constitutional and supreme courts, and journalists from the aforesaid countries.

The Russian government authored the bill.

The bill suspends the application of certain provisions of international agreements with the aforesaid countries in regard to diplomatic passports and visas "due to the need for an urgent response to unfriendly actions." Article 7 of the bill says that the Russian president will decide when the preferences might be reinstated.

The bill will take effect on the day of its official publication.