The technical government of Bulgaria has decided to partially terminate the provisions of the agreement between the governments of Bulgaria and Russia on mutual trips of citizens, Report informs citing TASS.
In particular, the agreement that holders of diplomatic and service passports have the right to visa-free stay in Bulgaria for up to 90 days within 180 days from the date of border crossing has been suspended.
It is noted that on September 12, a decision came into force on the complete termination of the agreement between the EU and Russia on a facilitated visa regime, which directly concerns Bulgaria. “The European Commission has repeatedly called for the termination of bilateral visa agreements between the EU member states and the Russian Federation, including the visa-free regime for holders of diplomatic and service passports,” the Bulgarian government’s decision reads.
It is specified that the visa regime for holders of official passports will be introduced from October 20, and for diplomats it was introduced on February 25, 2022.
Earlier, Bulgaria abolished benefits for issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens and increased their cost to 80 euros. The processing time for short stay visa applications is 15 days.