The discussion on ending the issuance of visas to Russian citizens for entry into the territory of EU countries is gradually moving to the pan-European level. The Czech Republic, which currently presides over the European Union, will bring this topic to a meeting with the participation of the foreign ministers of the member states, which will be held in Prague at the end of August.

The announcement was made by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavsky. “During the Russian aggression … one cannot speak of ordinary tourism for Russian citizens,” said the minister. According to him, the Czech Republic, which stopped issuing visas to tourists from Russia on February 25, the day after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has repeatedly asked other EU countries to follow its example: “And we are trying to explain to the our partners that this is a justified and effective step”.

Points for and against”

For the decision on visa sanctions to be adopted at a pan-European level, it must be approved by the Council of the EU with the unanimous support of 27 member states. But so far there is no talk of such support. For example, Finland requires stricter visa rules for citizens of the Russian Federation.

“It is not certain that at a time when Russia is waging an aggressive, brutal and predatory war in Europe, Russians can live a normal life, travel around Europe,” Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said and suggested that a decision be taken at the EU Level to restrict entry to Schengen countries for Russian tourists.

German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz does not support this idea. He believes that what is happening in Ukraine is “Putin’s war”, and the EU has already imposed numerous sanctions against people close to the Russian president. “We’ll get on with it,” Scholz promised, but he considers visa sanctions against all Russians an unwarranted step.

Russian tourists are not welcome in the Baltic countries

While an informal discussion on the political, legal and technical components of this issue continues in European capitals, national governments of some EU countries are independently taking measures that limit certain visa opportunities for citizens of the Russian Federation.

Kaya Callas

In addition to the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia were the first to decide to close the entry of Russian tourists. “Stop issuing tourist visas to Russians. Visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas appealed to her European counterparts. The Tallinn government has decided not only not to accept applications for issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens, but also not to let into the country even Russian citizens to whom Estonia had previously issued a Schengen visa.

Tougher visa policy towards Russians and Latvia. This spring, it stopped issuing tourist visas to them. And in early August, the Latvian embassy in Moscow announced that it was “indefinitely” suspending the acceptance of applications of any kind. visas

“In Emergencies”

The cessation – also indefinitely – of issuing short-stay visas and residence permits for Russians was announced at the end of May by Denmark. And on the website of the Slovakian embassy in the Russian Federation it says that Schengen visa applications are accepted “only in cases of emergency”.

At the same time, the visa restrictions already introduced by some countries against Russians have some exceptions. In particular, entry is allowed to members of official delegations, diplomats, people whose close relatives have already become EU citizens, as well as those who wish to leave Russia for humanitarian purposes.

Observers note that the emergence of visa restrictions for Russians was indirectly influenced by Moscow’s retaliatory expulsion of quite a large number of diplomats from EU member states working in the Russian Federation, which significantly complicated the work of consular departments. It is now very difficult to obtain a short-stay visa at the consulates of Bulgaria, Netherlands and Belgium. But officials in those countries insist these are purely technical difficulties and not a political gesture.

“Collective punishment is not necessary where there is a law”

At the moment, it is difficult to predict which EU leaders will support a single entry ban on Russian tourists and whether they will be able to convince their fellow critics on this issue. European Council on International Policy (ECFR) expert Gustav Gressel suggests that “because some Russian tourists dare to insult Ukrainian refugees in Europe and proudly talk about it on the Internet, public opinion in many countries is leaning against issuing visas” for RF citizens. The analyst himself considers such collective punishment an “unnecessary step”.

Gustav Gressel

Gressel is right that EU states need, above all, to control the implementation of their laws more rigorously: “Harassment and intimidation, whether by Russian fascists, Islamists or other extremists, must be faced with absolute intolerance: a fine or imprisonment, and then deportation.”

In turn, the representative of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs Andrea Sasse (Andrea Sasse) believes that not only tourists from the Russian Federation will suffer from the ban on issuing visas to Russians. “We are talking here not only about Russian tourists, but, for example, representatives of civil society. About school children, students, visas for close relatives of EU citizens or Russian citizens living in the EU. A very wide range of people would be the subject of discussion”, – concluded Sasse.