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Russian visa centre opens in Berlin

Getting a visa to Russia should become a comfortable and pleasant procedure

BERLIN, November 21 (Itar-Tass) — Getting a visa to Russia should become a comfortable and pleasant procedure. This task is set before the Russian visa centre, which opened in the German capital on Tuesday.

The centre with a total area of ··400 square metres is located in a building at 58, Friedrichstra·e. It is created for improving the services to citizens of Germany and third-country nationals wishing to obtain a visa to Russia, in close cooperation with the Embassy of the Russian Federation and Russian consulates in Germany.

The main direction of the work is simplifying and accelerating the visa issuing procedures. Skilled operators are ready to provide advice on all matters relating to the Russian visa formalities, filling the application form, getting the set of documents required to obtain a permit to enter the Russian Federation. The visa centre services are relatively inexpensive - 25 euros, irrespective of the visa type: business, work, private, transit, study or tourism visa.

Speaking at the centre’s opening ceremony, Russian Ambassador to Germany Vladimir Grinin noted that the problems associated with the visa regime between Russia and Germany, Russia and the EU, are currently being settle on the basis of agreements providing for mutual easing of rthe regime. He called for negotiations to abolish the visa regime between the two countries, stressing that “time presses.” The diplomat in this connection stressed that major sporting events, including the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014 are coming.

Grinin noted the importance of “creating favourable conditions for obtaining visas.” In his view, the centre that opened in Berlin on Tuesday “is one of the most important links in the activities in this sphere.” “This does not mean that the embassy will not perform its duties as before,” the Russian diplomat said.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Hans Mattern in his speech said that in early 2013, a German visa centre that will perform tasks similar to the Russian centre in Berlin will also be opened in Moscow. “We would like to open such offices also in other cities of Russia,” he said. According to the representative of the German Foreign Ministry, “so far the visa regime (between Germany and Russia) remains, but it is important that a program of joints steps has been worked out aimed at its simplification.”

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