At the same time, some EU countries propose a complete ban on entry for Russian tourists as part of the 19th package of sanctions against Russia.
According to Euractiv, changes in visa policy are being discussed in all EU countries. While Poland, the Baltic States and Finland have already virtually stopped issuing visas to Russians, Italy, Spain and Greece continue to receive tourists from Russia.
A separate item of the sanctions could be the restriction of freedom of movement of Russian diplomats in the Schengen zone. The initiative proposed by the Czech Republic involves tying diplomatic staff to the country of their accreditation.
The reason for toughening the policy was the record inflow of Russian tourists to the EU. According to the European Commission, more than 500 thousand Schengen visas were issued in 2024.
It should be noted that after the start of the conflict in Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland, the Czech Republic and Estonia closed entry to Russian citizens with Schengen visas of other countries. Now only Russians with citizenship or residence permit of one of the Schengen countries or citizenship of other countries with the right to visit the EU countries can get there.
So far, the EU has suspended the simplified visa regime with Russia and tightened the requirements for Schengen visas, and a number of countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Finland, the Czech Republic and Estonia, have stopped issuing tourist visas to Russians.
The decision to impose strict visa restrictions requires unanimous approval of all EU member states. The proposal of restrictions sounded within the framework of discussion of a new package of anti-Russian sanctions, which was announced in August by the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. It will be adopted in early September.
