MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2022) The EU ambassadors agreed on Wednesday to begin talks with the EU Parliament on a decision to not recognize Russian travel documents issued in four new regions of Russia, as well as in Crimea, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in the Schengen area, according to a statement by the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
"Ambassadors agreed their position on the non-recognition of Russian passports issued in occupied territories of Ukraine & Georgia . They won't be valid to obtain a visa or enter the #Schengenarea," the Czech presidency wrote on Twitter.
This measure allows the Council of the EU to begin talks with the parliament on the decision and its possible further implementation, according to the statement.
"This decision is a response to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine and Russia's practice of issuing Russian international passports to residents of the occupied regions," the statement of the Council of the EU said.
Russian travel documents issued in, or to persons resident in, the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics (DPR and LPR), Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as in Crimea, Abkhazia and South Ossetia will not be accepted as valid travel documents for obtaining a visa or crossing the borders of the Schengen area, according to the EU.
On September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the DPR and LPR, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, signed agreements on the accession of these territories to Russia, following referendums that showed that an overwhelming majority of the local population supported becoming part of Russia.
Last week, the text of the updated constitution of Russia was published, where these four regions are indicated as part of Russia.
Crimea reunited with Russia in 2014 after a referendum in which over 96% of the peninsula's voters were in favor of the reunification, with Ukraine and the West considering Crimea to be part of the Ukrainian territory, calling it temporarily occupied.
Ukraine does not recognize any of these regions to be a part of Russia.
In August 2008, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia after Georgian military attacked South Ossetia, trying to regain the breakaway republic, which declared its independence from Georgia along with Abkhazia in the 1990s. To defend South Ossetians, Moscow deployed its forces and routed Georgian troops. The Russian leadership, on multiple occasions, stressed that the decision reflects reality and will not be reversed. Meanwhile, Tbilisi refuses to recognize the independence of its two former republics.
