It is unlikely that the European Union will stop issuing visas to tourists from Russia. This idea was expressed by the chief adviser to the President of Lithuania on foreign policy, Asta Skaisgiriteiz, a country that, after the February events, was one of the first to restrict the issuance of Schengen visas for Russians.
N.B. Earlier Turprom wrote that on this topic. Read the details in the article “Closing Europe to Russians: 8 countries continue to insist on ridding the EU of Russian tourists.”
Skaisgiryte doubted that the EU would reach an agreement on imposing visa restrictions on Russians. The chance of achieving this is very small, as some countries have already expressed their skepticism on the Russophobic issue.
According to LRT, Germany, as well as the countries of Southern Europe, have already indicated that they do not support the idea of introducing visa restrictions for Russians. In an interview with the publication, the official stressed that Germany and the southern EU countries receive high income from tourism, and therefore it is important for them that the tourism sector recovers, since Russians make up the majority of the tourist flow.
In addition, she noted that the EU countries need a common position in order to be able to make a decision on this issue. Recall that Lithuania was one of the first EU countries that decided to limit the issuance of Schengen visas for Russian citizens. Back in February, the authorities announced that the country would not issue visas to Russian citizens, including those seeking medical care in Lithuania.
In addition to Lithuania, other countries have made similar decisions. For example, Estonia also stopped issuing Schengen visas to Russians. This decision came into force on 18 August. In addition to banning Russian citizens from issuing new visas, the authorities said they would also ban Russians who already have a visa issued by Estonia from entering the country. Commenting on the decision, which came into force on August 18, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinslau pointed out that this decision was the only right one, because by imposing restrictions, Estonia wanted to deprive Russians of the opportunity to continue living normally. Estonia plans to deny entry to Russians holding Schengen visas issued by other Schengen-associated countries. This news was announced by the same minister.
Latvia stopped issuing visas to Russian citizens from 1 August. Earlier this month, Latvian authorities said a cross-border agreement with Russia designed to ease travel between the two countries had been suspended.
Other EU countries, however, have yet to make a decision on the matter, the German chancellor said innocent tourists should not fall into the political meat grinder. At the same time, a spokesman for the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the state has a negative attitude towards the idea of a ban on issuing visas to Russians in the European Union. Similar thoughts were expressed in the governments of Greece and Cyprus – these states, beloved by Russian tourists, currently do not support the denial of admission of Russian citizens to the EU.
Earlier, Turprom wrote that “Russians rushed to massively buy real estate in the country, restricting their entry.”
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