European Union foreign and defense ministers will discuss options for an EU military training mission for Ukrainian forces at a meeting in Prague this week, as well as consider calls by some members to ban Russian tourists from visiting member states, Reuters reports.

Several EU countries have been training the Ukrainian military for some time, mainly to teach them how to use weapons that Western countries are supplying to Ukraine to help it fight the Russian invasion.

EU diplomats told Reuters ahead of a meeting of defense ministers on Monday and Tuesday that it was not yet clear where the EU training program might be based or what its mandate might be.

The EU’s chief representative for foreign policy and security, Josep Borrell, has so far revealed few details about his plans, limiting himself to the statement that such a program would not be based in Ukraine, but in neighboring countries.

The EU will discuss the suspension of visas for citizens of Russia

The six-month war in Ukraine remains a priority of the European Union’s foreign policy, and as the bloc’s foreign ministers discuss in Prague a proposal to suspend the visa regime for Russians.

The Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency, is pushing for a European-wide ban on visas for Russian tourists, an idea supported mainly by the Baltic states.

However, Germany, several other member states and Borrell reject such a measure, arguing that it could violate EU rules and block an exit route for Russian dissidents.

Citizens of Russia enter mainly through five countries

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland, which share a border with Russia, could act on their own to block tourists unless the EU agreed on a nationwide ban.

According to Landsbergis, Russians mostly enter the EU through the land borders of the five countries, as direct flights between Russia and the EU bloc were suspended after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

In mid-August, Estonia closed its border to more than 50,000 Russians with previously issued visas, the first EU country to do so.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi called on the West to impose a blanket ban on Russians, prompting an angry response from Moscow.

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