The European Parliament confirmed on Thursday the decision of the Council of the European Union not to accept passports and other travel documents issued by Russia in the illegally occupied regions of Ukraine and Georgia, according to an EP statement, Agerpres reports.

With 531 votes in favor, seven votes against and 34 abstentions, the European legislature approved the agreement with the EU Council regarding the non-acceptance of travel documents issued by Russia in the occupied regions of Ukraine and in the so-called separatist territories of Georgia, with the aim of issuing visas or crossing the external borders of the EU.

According to the agreement, the European Commission should consult with member states and draw up a list of Russian travel documents, especially passports, that should not be accepted. However, people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine can still enter the EU for humanitarian purposes.

After the vote, EP rapporteur, Spanish MEP Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar (S&D), said that ‘The European Parliament is determined to do everything possible to continue to put pressure on Russia through legal and political means to ensure that Putin pays a price raised for this illegal war and for the crimes committed against Ukraine and its people”.

Russia has been issuing passports to residents of Crimea since its illegal annexation of the peninsula in 2014 and is currently doing the same in areas of Ukraine not under the control of the government in Kyiv. The non-acceptance of these Russian passports will apply when a person applies for a visa to enter the European Union or when crossing the external borders of the EU.

According to the European Commission, almost all member states have already declared that they do not accept Russian passports issued in occupied foreign regions.

Agerpres