The Finnish government meeting, which will consider the issue of restriction on issuing Schengen tourist visas to Russian citizens, will be held on August 16. The announcement was made on Sunday, August 14, by Finnish state broadcaster Yle.

Finland’s Cabinet of Ministers does not yet have a definitive position on the issue of restricting the rest of Russians, Yle said. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has studied several options, one of which is to make it difficult in practice to grant tourist visas. The government will assess possible solutions at an informal meeting on 16 August.

For her part, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin expressed her hope that tourist travel by Russian citizens will be limited as a result of expanding EU sanctions. The Cabinet chief expects the issue to be considered in the format of EU summits – in particular, in October 2022.

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland proposed to limit the acceptance of applications

The idea of ​​expanding EU sanctions, promoted in particular by Finland and the Baltic countries, was announced during the holiday season in Central Europe.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto previously proposed limiting the acceptance of Russian Schengen tourist visa applications to one day a week. “In practice, this could mean that you will be able to apply for tourist visas on Mondays and Tuesday through Friday” – only for visas “for family, study, work or other good reasons,” he said.

Zelensky’s Criticism

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has once again criticized the European Union’s policy of issuing visas to Russian citizens. “You can’t destroy the very idea of ​​Europe, our common European values, that is, you can’t turn Europe into a supermarket where it doesn’t matter who walks in and, most importantly, one person simply pays for the goods,” Zelensky said in a video message on August 12. He thanked the Czech Republic, the Baltic countries and other European countries for bringing the issue to the level of official discussion in the EU.

At the same time, Zelensky acknowledged that there are individuals who are being persecuted or who could be killed in Russia and should receive assistance through refugee mechanisms.

Positions of Lithuania and Denmark

The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also stated that it considers it necessary to ban the entry of Russian citizens at EU level. “Lithuania has consistently advocated sanctions against aggressive states and adheres to the position that restrictions work most effectively if they are enforced at the EU level,” the ministry said. Lithuanian institutions responsible for areas such as state security, visa issuance and border control are evaluating decisions previously made in this regard by Estonia and Latvia.

Denmark is also ready to discuss visa restrictions for Russians, said Immigration and Integration Minister Kore Dyubwad and Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kufud. “It is necessary to create a pan-European response,” said Dyubvad.

Expert: The idea of ​​collective guilt is inapplicable

Meanwhile, Jussi Lassila, a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Relations, expressed confidence that the idea of ​​collective guilt is not applicable in a situation where opposition in the Russian Federation is suppressed and there is no real opportunity for protest.

The hope that the border closure would increase discontent within Russia and turn residents against Vladimir Putin’s regime, Lassila called it naive. The expert noted that the vast majority of Russians do not take a vacation abroad and will not be affected by this decision.