Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said he favors creating a system of pre-notification for Russian citizens wishing to visit Ukraine.

"Visas are a thing of the past. Firstly, we want to get used to biometric passports and move to a system under which people only travel using biometric passports. Secondly, and this is important to me, if you travel to many countries and then go on the Internet and say: I want to travel in five days to … this is how Russians should travel to Ukraine. It's necessary to create the platform and control entry, so it's not completely uncontrollable," Klimkin said during an interview broadcast on Monday morning by Kyiv-based TV Channel 1+1.

According to the FM, after adopting the political decision to create such a platform, it will take several months before it's ready for testing. He added that border control is the most important issue.

Klimkin said a visa system for travel by Russian to Ukraine could have been introduced long ago, but noted that residents of Crimea could be forced by occupation forces "to get a visa for travel to their own country." In addition, the FM said Ukrainian citizens live in Russia and may be forced to switch to Russian citizenship if a visa system is introduced.

"Our task should be simple – to close the border, but in such as way that it does not impact negatively on Ukrainians," Klimkin said.