Putin says Russia is ready to mend relations with Georgia

BRUSSELS-The European Union’s executive backed Ukraine and Georgia’s bid for visa-free access to the bloc on Friday, opening the way to more than 40 million people to potentially travel visa-free to the bloc. Georgian Prime Minister’s special envoy for relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze has said that Tbilisi “will push ahead with efforts to overcome the stalemate in relations with Russia”.

The country completed 7 of 15 major requirements of the second phase of the action plan for liberalization of visa regime with the European Union (VLAP), according to the report of the European Commission as of 8 May 2015.

Putin was asked by a reporter from Georgia’s Maestro TV about the further developments of Russia-Georgia relations, to which the Russian leader said: “Yes, we think we are ready to cancel the visa regime with Georgia”.

The exemption from visa requirement concerns only short-stays, up to 90 days in any 180-day period for business, touristic or family purposes.

It said both Georgia and Ukraine had fulfilled all the benchmarks of its visa liberalisation action plan.

“The legislative and policy framework, the institutional and organizational principles, and the implementation of procedures throughout the four blocks comply with European and global standards”.

Negotiations about visa liberalization began in June, 2012.

The EU-Ukraine Visa Liberalization Dialogue was launched on October 2008 and the VLAP was presented to the Ukrainian authorities on November 2010.

“The Commission considers that Georgia meets all the benchmarks set in respect of the four blocks of the second phase of the VLAP”, reads the European Commission’s fourth and final progress report. Today’s report is the sixth and last progress report.