EU Ambassador - RBC: "Greening" our relations is a step towards their stabilization"

“The Russian side over and over again postpones the timing of the inspection”

— To facilitate mutual travel, the EU and Russia are discussing the process of recognizing vaccination passports. How are the negotiations going?

— Two and a half months ago, in July, we provided the Russian Ministry of Health with all the necessary information and requirements necessary to make a decision on the recognition of the equivalence of Russian certificates and EU digital COVID-certificates (for the Russian vaccination certificate to be recognized in the European Union and vice versa. — ) . Such equivalence decisions have already been made in relation to 16 countries, among them Israel, Turkey, North Macedonia. Another 15 countries are on the way to this. The Russian side has not yet prepared the necessary documents to be sent to the European Commission in Brussels. I regret this because mutual recognition of equivalence, including recognition by Russia in turn of EU digital COVID certificates, would definitely make life easier for people traveling both ways. After all, then the travelers

- Let's say vaccination passports would be recognized tomorrow, although the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) do not recognize the Sputnik V vaccine. Would citizens vaccinated with Sputnik V be able to enter the EU without complying with quarantine requirements?

- Yes. If we achieve mutual recognition of our certificates, this will be possible.