Bulgaria will increase the visa fee for tourists from Russia
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The Bulgarian authorities plan to increase the visa fee for Russian tourists from 35 to 80 euros. Minister of Tourism of the country Ilyin Dimitrov informed on the air of the BNT TV channel.
“It is impossible to deny entry to Russian citizens, but the cost of visas for them will be increased. This is a decision of the EU, with which we do not fully agree, but this will have to be taken into account,” Dimitrov said.
The minister added that more than 60,000 tourists from Russia have visited the country since the beginning of the year. It is specified that 70% of them own resort real estate on the sea.
At the end of August, a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the EU countries was held in Prague, at which, among other things, the issue of banning the issuance of visas to Russian citizens was discussed. Several EU countries, including Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, actively support this initiative, while a number of countries oppose it.
As a result, the countries came to a compromise and decided to terminate the simplified procedure for issuing visas. “This means that the number of visas issued will significantly decrease, it will be more difficult and longer to obtain visas,” said EU diplomat Josep Borrell.
Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that the decision will negatively affect the citizens of Russia, since the process of obtaining a Schengen visa will now be “longer and more difficult.” At the same time, Peskov recalled, European citizens will also face difficulties when traveling to Russia.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia should not close and take mirror measures on EU visa restrictions. Russia’s permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, said today that Russia will announce retaliatory measures after it receives an official notification from the EU about the waiver of simplified visa procedures.
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