Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that the time is ripe for scrapping the visa regime between Russia and EU.

"We want a visa free regime," Medvedev said. "We think that we are ready for this; our businesses and people are in favor of it; you could say it is the spirit of the time," Medvedev said at a press-conference on results of the Russian-German interstate consultations.

Medvedev said Russia had sent a draft of the agreement on the visa-free regime to the EU.

"It is clear that this is just a draft and there are difficulties within the EU," he said. "Our partners are discussing it and we hope there will be real progress."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on Wednesday for bilateral talks.

Merkel promised to assist with the possible introduction of visa-free regime between Russia and the EU.

Medvedev said he was confident a decision on a visa-free regime would eventually be reached if there was the necessary "good will and desire."

During the Russia-EU summit from May 31-June 1 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia handed over to the EU a draft agreement on abolishing the visa regime.

YEKATERINBURG, July 15 (RIA Novosti)