Visas for the Russians: What really agreed in the EU

"When three weeks ago, President Zelensky made an offer to close the Russians to the EU, few people in the European Union believed that it would lead to results. But yesterday in Prague after the grueling negotiations Day, the European Machine Colosse was rotated and the EU foreign ministers agreed ". Opinion. We. I from Ukraine I am grateful to the Czech President in the EU for the opportunity to participate in this discussion, and in fact in a fairly fierce diplomatic combat.

Therefore, at first the arrangement of forces was about the following: at one pole - a soft proposal to terminate the agreement with the Russian Federation on the simplified order of visa registration; On the other, the rigid proposal of Ukraine and groups of EU countries to limit the entry to the European Union, retaining the open doors only for humanitarian (treatment, family reunification, etc. ) and political (human rights activists, Putin's opponents, etc. ).

I saw in the Ukrainian media during the day there were quotes of ministers who wanted a soft decision. I understand that they sounded pessimistic. But we kept a communication pause, because in fact the struggle was struggling. According to the results of the diplomatic marathon, the decisions were much closer to the Ukrainian position. Yesterday's hysterical reaction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation is the best evidence.

Therefore, the agreement instead of one element (termination of the agreement) consists of five elements: as you can see, it is much tougher than the fans of a soft approach to issuing visas to the Russians. Therefore, it is an important fracture and the result of a difficult discussion between real partners that found a balance.