RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin said yesterday Cyprus should lift visa restrictions on Russians visiting the island and return to pre EU arrangements.

"I believe we could certainly return to a visa-free regime with Cyprus," Putin said during an annual news conference in the Kremlin. "I think the economy in Cyprus could benefit from it, considering the vast flow of Russian tourists to the country who enjoy their vacations on Cyprus, including its Greek part."

In the absence of a way around the visa issue, Putin suggested that many Russian tourists could choose to holiday in Turkey or the northern part of Cyprus, even though it is unrecognised by the international community, because they could enter the country without visas.

During his visit to Moscow this month, President Tassos Papadopoulos was confronted by Russian businessmen, some of whom suggested that tourism relations between Russia and both the north and south of the island could be developed.

Papadopoulos said the Cyprus government did not want tourists who were visiting Cyprus to cross into the north.

President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce Yevgeny Primakov said tourism from Russia to both sides of the island would benefit the whole of Cyprus.

Cyprus is a hugely popular destination for Russian tourists and for 10 years there were no visa restrictions between the two countries, which helped further up the figures.

In 2003, more than 100,000 Russians visited Cyprus and countless others were doing business on the island. However, after Cyprus joined the EU in May 2004, the number of visitors dropped dramatically after visas were reintroduced.

The government did attempt to streamline the procedure, but numbers still fell by around 30 per cent.

"We could develop a system that would allow tourists to enter Cyprus without visas, but would not let them travel to any other EU country party to the Schengen Agreement, without special permission," Putin said.
The Schengen zone covers the majority of EU countries, and allows foreigners to travel to other countries within the area once they have received a visa for their originally designated country of destination.

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