“The issue of the possibility of an organized joint significant reduction by all EU countries in the number of Schengen visas issued to Russian citizens will be introduced by a number of states, in particular Estonia and Finland,” the agency’s interlocutor said.
It is noted that the meeting will discuss changes to the visa code, which does not allow a complete cessation of the issuance of Schengen visas on a national basis.
“At the first stage, the creation of a voluntary system for a multiple reduction in the issuance of tourist visas to Russian citizens will be considered, to which those EU states that are already ready for this step can immediately join,” he added.
The representative of the press service of the European Commission for internal affairs said earlier that the EU countries have the right to independently restrict the issuance of visas.
For example, in Estonia, from August 18, they introduced restrictions on the issuance of visas to Russians and stopped letting Russian citizens with issued Schengen visas into the territory of the republic.
The press service of the Estonian government said that Russians will not be able to enter the country on issued visas if the purpose of the trip is tourism, business, sports or culture.