MOSCOW, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Russia and the European Union (EU) are unlikely to reach a visa-free travel arrangement before their biannual summit in January, a senior Russian diplomat said Friday.
"If EU countries and the European Commission show due political will, we could sign that agreement on time," ambassador Anvar Azimov told a news briefing. "However, the current situation demonstrates that our partners lack such a will."
Azimov said Russia and the EU have been technically ready to lift the visa requirements, but Brussels "artificially politicizes" that issue.
The diplomat noted that Moscow has not been dramatizing the situation and "can survive" without the new agreement which "obviously" would not be signed in 2014.
"This is not our fault that the issue has been clogged. We are ready to lift visa restriction. The ball is on the EU's court now," the diplomat said.
A Russia-EU summit will take place on Jan. 27-28, 2014, in Brussels.
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