BRUSSELS, July 28. /TASS/: Russia will not be on the updated list of countries the EU can open borders with, a source in the delegation of one of the EU countries in the EU Council told TASS. Brussels will make the updated "white list" public in the coming days, next time it will be revised in mid-August, the source said.
"No, Russia will not be included in this list yet. Unfortunately, statistics say that it is too early," the source said.
The diplomat said that the list, which now includes 13 countries, would unlikely be expanded this time, and could even be shortened. The EU is currently still working on it, the official added.
"As we see, over the past two weeks, the situation in the world is uneasily developing. In many countries, we see an increase in the number of infections, which, unfortunately, does not allow opening borders quickly, but, on the contrary, even forces us to take new measures," the source noted.
The EU Council approved the first version of the so-called white list on June 20. It included 14 countries.
In mid-July, the EU Council reduced the list to 12 countries (excluding China), excluding Serbia and Montenegro. At the moment, travel to the EU is allowed for residents of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Rwanda, Georgia, Uruguay.
The EU also put China on the initial list but noted that the borders would be opened on a condition of reciprocity. However, Beijing has not yet confirmed the opening of its borders to citizens of the EU countries.
The document is recommendation-based, which means that the EU states can open or close borders with any countries from the "white list" at their discretion. At the same time the EU countries should not open borders with countries not included in it.
The EU started to open internal borders on June 15.
