This is Putin’s war, says Chancellor Olaf Scholz. This is not just Putin’s war, counters Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, but Russia’s war. Two voices on a question that the European Union must now resolve: should Russian tourists be refused entry into the EU as punishment for the attack on Ukraine? Olaf Scholz finds it difficult to imagine, as he says, while Kuleba and his President Volodymyr Zelenskiy are vehemently in favor of it – and are finding more and more support in the EU.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and her Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin are driving forces in the debate. Visiting Europe is not a human right but a privilege, Kallas said this week. Marin said it is not fair that Russian citizens can lead normal lives and travel around Europe while their state is waging a “brutal war of aggression”. The EU bodies are now officially dealing with the demand to no longer issue visas, and the topic will also be on the agenda at the meeting of foreign ministers on August 31 in Prague.
In Prague, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský will propose on behalf of the Czech Council Presidency to suspend the issuing of short-term visas for the Schengen area to Russian citizens. The step is the right signal to Russian society – and necessary to prevent the Russian secret service from infiltrating Europe under the guise of tourism. The Czech Republic stopped issuing visas right at the beginning of the war.
Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have also restricted the entry of Russians. This Thursday, the Estonian government announced that Schengen visas issued by Estonian authorities before the Ukraine war would no longer be recognised. The number of entries and transits from Russia has recently “increased massively”. This is not compatible with the sanctions imposed by the EU. Because of the sanctions, there are no longer any direct flights from Russia to the EU, but apparently many Russians are now traveling via Finland and the Baltic States. Plans in Finland are apparently similar to those in Estonia, but Prime Minister Marin insists that there must be a uniform regulation for the entire Schengen area.
14,000 Russians have received a Schengen visa in Germany since the beginning of the war
It is still unclear on what basis the EU could impose a blanket ban on visas, because EU law requires that each individual case be examined. According to the sanctions imposed so far, only people who can be proven to be close to the Russian regime and thus support the war of aggression in Ukraine are affected by travel restrictions.
Since the start of the war against Ukraine, more than 14,000 Russians have received German Schengen visas in Germany. Chancellor Scholz said Thursday the sanctions were intended to punish Russia’s elites. However, a complete suspension of the issuing of visas would also affect civil society and thus people who are open to the EU. The situation is similar in most western EU countries.
The debate has caused new upheavals in relations between Russia and the EU. Former President and Putin confidant Dmitry Medvedev tweeted that Estonian Prime Minister Kallas was acting like a “Nazi” and responded to her comment that visiting Europe was not a human right, saying: “Your freedom are not your merit, but our omission.”