EU Countries Demand Stricter Visa Rules for Russians
The countries want binding EU rules to curb visa shopping and block former Russian combatants as tourist visas for Russians topped 470,000 in 2025.
- On Thursday in Luxembourg, Poland, Norway, the Baltic states, and nine other nations urged Brussels to implement "new restrictive and binding visa measures" for Russians, arguing that current tourist access amid the war in Ukraine poses security risks.
- Hawkish nations argue rules are applied unevenly across the bloc, noting European countries issued more than 470,000 tourist Schengen visas to Russian citizens in 2025 as the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year.
- Migration Minister Johan Forssell told reporters at the Luxembourg talks that leisure travel during the war is unacceptable, calling for an end to "shopping weekends" and "fancy trips to Europe."
- Russian opposition figurehead Yulia Navalnaya argued in September that broad restrictions would be a "serious mistake," warning such measures feed the Kremlin's narrative that Europe is hostile to all Russians.
- Other European diplomats counter that travel helps expose Russians to different narratives, arguing against blanket punitive measures; the European bloc suspended visa facilitation agreements last November, leaving member states divided on tourist visa bans.
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Eleven European countries, including the Czech Republic, have written to the European Commission asking it to tighten the issuance of Schengen visas for Russian citizens, Polish station RMF24 reported. The Czech Republic was represented by Foreign Minister Petr Macinka (Motoristé) and Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar (ANO).
Europe closed its doors to Russian citizens in the autumn of 2022, following the invasion of Ukraine launched by autocrat Vladimir Putin. However, despite restrictions on granting visas to Russian nationals, the number of permits requested and granted has risen. In 2025, nearly 478,000 visas were issued to Russians for tourist purposes, according to data from the Schengen Eurobarometer; a significant part, multiple entry.
Democracy Digest: Czechia and Poland Urge Ban on Russian Tourist Visas
Elsewhere, Czech police charge four in OnlyFans human-trafficking case; Hungarian PM raises pressure on president to quit; fresh dispute over wartime history frays Polish-Ukrainian ties; Slovak government defends overdue package of measures to support growth.
The increasing issuance of Schengen visas to Russian citizens posed a security threat, said the Lithuanian Minister of the Interior, Vladislav Kondratović, who had participated in the meeting of the European Union (EU) Council for Justice and Internal Affairs in Luxembourg.
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