Russia expresses "surprise, regret" over Ukraine's visa intentions

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Moscow on Thursday voiced regret over Ukraine's possible plans to introduce visa regime with Russia.

"Intention of the Ukrainian side causes nothing but surprise and regret, because Kiev's actions will significantly complicate contacts between millions of citizens of the two countries," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It added that cross-border, inter-regional and humanitarian cooperation also would be jeopardized if Kiev executes these plans.

Mutual travels of Russian and Ukraine citizens are governed by the inter-governmental agreements of 1997 and 2004, said the ministry. According to these documents, the citizens of the two countries are not required to have either visas or travel passports for crossing the common border and may stay in each other's country for 90 days in a row, it said.

On Wednesday, Ukraine said it was considering introducing a visa regime with Russia and quitting the Commonwealth of Independent States. Later, however, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Kiev was not going to hurry to implement its visa plans.

Earlier Thursday, Sergei Naryshkin, speaker of the Russian State Duma, lower house of the parliament, said Kiev authorities do not take into account the interests of common people when mulling introduction of the visa regime. Endi

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