MOSCOW, March 12 - RAPSI. Visa-free travel between Russia and the EU is unlikely to be approved in time for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, but it could happen by the end of 2014, said Ambassador at Large Anvar Azimov.

"We would like the issue of visa-free travel to be settled in time for the Sochi Olympics, but this is unlikely," the Russian diplomat said at a briefing on Tuesday.

He expressed hope that visa-free travel would be implemented "by the end of 2014, at the latest."

An EU expert mission monitoring joint steps towards visa-free travel with Russia, which include issues such as migration risks, counterterrorism and the cooperation of law-enforcement agencies, will visit Russia on April 8-12, Azimov said.

Vladimir Putin believes that almost all the technical aspects connected to the introduction of a visa-free regime have been settled. "We are done with the technical details, now it is up to the political will of our EU partners," he announced at a news conference following the Russian-European Union summit in December 2012.