Since we haven’t needed Schengen visas for 20 years, we Romanians don’t really know how many types there are and how the system works. Thus, most of our discussions and arguments related to the suspension of visas for Russian citizens are impudent or even pointless. The world rages in a purely ideological polemic, rolls its eyes and struggles with ethical and moral dilemmas, the solution of which already exists.

After the cancellation of flights to/from Russia, the only land borders through which Russian citizens can directly enter the Schengen zone are the borders with Finland and the two Baltic countries. However, in July alone, more than 170,000 Russians passed through the territory of Finland, most of them with visas from other countries of the Schengen zone, except for Finland. It is not known who these people are, nor how many of them are comfortable urban bourgeois going to the Cote d’Azur, Putin fanatics like those who recently trolled Ukrainians on the street, or even FSB/GRU employees (at work or on vacation: don’t underestimate the huge the number of personnel received by the military and security services of Russia).

It is fair that the Baltic countries and Finland have raised the issue that this cannot continue, namely that their territory is becoming a launching pad for vacation trips and shopping for customers of a regime that threatens Warsaw with missiles and nuclear power plants throughout Europe. Of the 2.4 million “unified” Schengen visas issued in 2021 (types A, B, C; see discussion below), Russia was the main customer with 536,000; Turkey, India, Maghreb countries and China follow at a distance. The message of the head of the Finnish government on this matter is clear, and the Finns, as we know, are not people who worry one or two for no reason. It is just as clear what the head of the government of Estonia, another country that receives waves of transiting Russian tourists, says:

If the single C visas disappear, Schengen D visas will remain in force, operating under their own rules of each issuing country, which thus takes direct responsibility for those entering European territory. They are provided for professional activities, education or research, family situations or even for tourism. Simply, the D visa regime can be extended/restricted by each individual country, without the need for a joint decision at EU level, as is the case with C visas.

In addition to visas C and D, there are visas that are granted by the Schengen countries for humanitarian reasons to those who are threatened, persecuted, etc. They are issued urgently, after analysis of individual cases, and, obviously, they can remain in force for Russian citizens even after the cessation of issuing tourist visas of type C. Therefore, there is no problem, as with Navalny, Volodymyr Kara-Murza or others like them. , if they manage to escape from the clutches of the regime, they should be refused entry to the EU.

In the same way, multiple visas for 3-5 years can remain in force, but with a smaller number and stricter individual control, because here it is better to track who has them and what is done with them. This is enough (1.7 million in 2021, compared to 2.4 million C visas) to cover the legitimate cases of people traveling for study, work or business. Obviously, we have no guarantee that a Russian businessman holding such a multiple-entry visa is not someone who secretly supports the Putin regime, but at least the checks in this segment are tighter.

After all, no one demanded an absolutely impenetrable Schengen, as the ignorant hysterics understood, but only a massive, order-of-magnitude reduction in Russian tourism in Europe, which happens, as if unreal, in parallel with the war that the Kremlin declares on Europe every day. If it continues as it is now, paradoxically, we are only confirming to Russian citizens the grand Putinist narrative that the EU is nothing more than a collection of talkers who talk but don’t have the guts to act, otherwise they might be bought in parts with the economic advantages that Russia offers: the owners of shopping centers in Milan or hotels in Greece whine, and that’s it, the Commission is politically paralyzed.

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