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Moscow Warns of Counter-Action to Brussels' Visa Suspension
Russia "reserves the right to take adequate responsive steps if the Belgian authorities do not revise their decision" to suspend granting visas to Russian citizens, Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday.
"No matter what considerations are behind the decision, the Russian side regards it as an erroneous, hasty, thoughtless, inadequate and contradicting" move in international civilized contacts, the ministry said in a press release after summoning the Belgian Charge d'Affaires to Russia Monday regarding the visa suspension.
The Belgian government decided last Friday to stop issuing visas to Russian citizens for two weeks, except people holding diplomatic and service passports.
Instructing the Belgian embassy in Moscow to temporarily close its consular section, Brussels accused Russia of failing to conduct sufficient cooperation in stemming the emigration of Russian citizens, who apply for political asylum in Belgium.
According to the Itar-Tass news agency, 200 out of the 1,760 people applying for political asylum in Belgium in April, came from Russia.
Belgian Interior Minister Antoine Duquesne visited Moscow last week, but the two sides were unable to reach agreement on this issue.
Itar-Tass quoted diplomatic sources in Brussels as saying that the two countries plan to set up a joint expert group to make recommendations on the matter.
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