During the first half of September, European discussions were dominated by reports about a possible cancellation of Schengen visas for Russian citizens or a sharp tightening of the rules. Several European media outlets wrote that visas could be banned or that the application process could become significantly more difficult.
According to Politico, such measures could have been included in the EU’s 19th package of anti-Russian sanctions, which the bloc had planned to adopt on September 17. The publication later уточнил that consideration of the package had been postponed.
The news portal Euractiv reported that toward the end of the year, new recommendations may be issued for EU member states that would impose strict limits on tourist visas for Russian citizens.
“We cannot simply accept that Russians travel and enjoy life while their government kills Ukrainians every day and threatens our security,” one European diplomat told Euractiv.
In the view of one lawmaker, those traveling to Europe most often are members of the more affluent part of Russian society. Against this backdrop, rumors about a possible closure of borders to Russian tourists caused a strong public reaction.
Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, sent a letter to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. In it, she said that banning visas would be a serious mistake and urged attention to be focused on the Kremlin’s allies instead.
Political scientist Alexander Kynev also said that if such a ban were introduced, the main beneficiary would be the Russian authorities. In his view, such measures would destroy some of the last remaining channels of contact with Russian society and amount to sanctions applied indiscriminately.