Russia hopes to shift to visa-free travel with EU before Sochi Games

Russia is hopeful that the EU will make a political decision on the switch to visa-free travel before the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

"It is important that the EU chooses visa-free travel," Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador at Large Anvar Azimov told reporters on Tuesday.

A shift to visa-free travel would be realistic "within a year or two," he said.

"Our plans to have visa-free travel by 2014, when Sochi hosts the Olympic Games, are quite realistic. There are technical parameters for doing that," Azimov said.