MOSCOW, January 19, 12:57 /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the need for agreeing on visa-free rules with the European Union in general.

“It seems to me that we should agree on visa-free travel in general. And as far as some exclusions are concerned, we may talk about some separate events,” he told Russian and foreign journalists.

“We offer exclusions for some tourist routes. For example, tourists arriving by water transport may enter St Petersburg without visa for a certain period of time. We offer other exclusions as well,” Putin said. “But we are talking about exclusions anyway while the general regime is as follows: in the world, all visa and visa-free travel issues are regulated on the basis of reciprocity.”

“And we would very much like to finally reach an agreement on such visa-free travel with our colleagues from the European Union,” he continued. “I have spoken on many occasions that the European Union has introduced visa-free travel with a number of Latin American countries where the criminal situation is not better - and in many cases is worse - than in the Russian Federation. And where is Latin America, and where is Europe? If we look at Russia and Europe, they are very close, as I see it.