The EU intends next week to suspend a simplified visa mode from Russian Federation - Financial Times
Video of the Agreement, which they want to cancel in the EU, provides a simplification on the basis of reciprocity of visas for staying for a period of not more than 90 days to citizens of the Russian Federation in the EU and citizens of European Union countries in the Russian Federation. That is, the EU intends to abolish the simplified procedure for granting visas to the Russians.
Such decisions will lead to the fact that the Russians will need to submit more documents to obtain visas, which will make the process more expensive and increase the waiting time for the visa. "We need to signal to the Russian population that this war is not normal, it is unacceptable," said a high -ranking EU official who participated in the negotiations. “We are in an exceptional situation, and this requires exceptional steps.
We want to go beyond the suspension of visa simplification, ”he said, adding that deeper changes could be introduced by the end of the year. According to FT, this decision will reduce the number of permits on the Russian traveling against the backdrop of consensus search between EU Eastern countries, which require a complete ban on the issuance of visas to the Russians, and Germany and France and some other countries in Western Europe, which oppose it.
It is known that Eastern European countries, including the Czech Republic and Poland, as well as the Baltic countries have unilaterally ceased to issue tourist visas to the Russians, as well as declared their intention not to let Russians with visas received in other EU countries. Since airplaces between the EU and Russia have been suspended, many Russian tourists use the Baltic countries as a transit route to other EU countries.
Estonia Prime Minister Kai Callas said that 30% of Russians traveling to the EU do so through the territory of Estonia. Against the backdrop of this EU, the EU countries demand that Brussels make a complete ban on the visa visa, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously suggested to punish the Russians for their support of war against Ukraine. Some EU countries, such as Denmark, also support this decision, but provided that it will be collectively adopted by all 27 EU member countries.
At the same time, other countries, including Germany, warn the complete closure of the borders for the Russians, arguing that the exceptions should be saved for requests for asylum and permission to Putin's dies. The head of the EU diplomacy, Josep Borrel, opposed the ban on entry to the EU for all citizens of the Russian aggressor country, saying that the block should be "more selective".