The EU will study a suspension of the issuance of visas to Russian nationals

Russian passports (illustrative image).

AFP - ALEXANDER NEMENOV

Text by: RFI Follow

4 mins

A meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Prague during which the issue of visas for Russians is to be discussed will open on Tuesday 30 August.

For several weeks, some countries have been calling for the end of visas for Russian nationals.

The discussions promise to be complicated in Prague as the issue divides within the EU.

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The European Union and

in the sanctions against Russia.

And one of the avenues envisaged is the suspension of the 2007 agreement between Moscow and the European Union which provides for facilities for issuing short-stay visas to Russian nationals.

Because even if certain personalities linked to the Kremlin no longer have the possibility of going to Europe, thousands of Russian tourists continue to

If Finland, like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has been calling for such a measure for weeks, some countries do not hesitate to show their reluctance for fear that such a decision could be counterproductive.

This is the case of Germany, but also of the European Commission, which insists on the need to protect dissidents, journalists and families for humanitarian reasons.

Exceptions are possible

Currently holding the presidency of the Council of the EU, the Czech Republic is one of the countries which have pleaded for a ban on visas granted to Russian nationals, confirms our correspondent in Prague,

.

"At a time when Russian aggression is underway, there can be no question of ordinary tourism for Russian citizens

", according to Jan Lipavsky, the head of Czech diplomacy, who has already spoken clearly for the end of granted visas to the Russians.

Unlike Poland, Finland and the Baltic States, Czechia does not have a common border with Russia, but the country was one of the first in the Union to interrupt the normal visa validation regime for Russian and Belarusian nationals, the day after the February 24 invasion.

Exceptions remain possible, in particular for humanitarian cases or people persecuted by the Putin regime.

According to diplomatic sources

, the 27 ministers meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Prague should agree to freeze the 2007 agreement on obtaining Schengen visas for Russian citizens, which should considerably reduce the number of travel documents issued.

550,000 visa applications in 26 Schengen countries

For the Czech minister, who will chair this meeting, it is also

”.

Revelations last year about the murderous actions of Russian spies in the Czech Republic led to the expulsion of dozens of diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Prague.

In 2021, the 26 countries of the Schengen area had received nearly 550,000 applications for short-stay visas.

Visas which are still granted, despite the conflict in Ukraine, even if certain countries such as Finland have radically reduced the volume, knowing that the demand to go to this country bordering Russia has increased very sharply since the start of the Russian invasion.

“ 

 ”, thus called Dmytro Kouleba head of Ukrainian diplomacy, in particular to the attention of EU countries at a time when the tourism sector in Europe has already taken the fold of the crisis.

In France, on the Côte d'Azur, this summer spent without Russian tourists has been bad news for hotels and restaurants.

This does not represent many tourists in volume, only 8ᵉ nation in the region, but it is a wealthy clientele who is used to spending lavishly.

Cyprus losing, Turkey winning

In Cyprus, the problem is different.

Russians usually represent the second contingent of tourists.

At the end of February, Nicosia took a stand against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and direct flights were cut.

Only 17,000 Russians came this summer, far from the 800,000 expected.

A loss estimated at 600 million dollars by the Cypriot administration.

In fact, whatever the decision taken by the European Union on visas, tourism professionals have already adapted.

“ 

”, slips an optimistic tour operator.

This summer, Russian tourists returned to another of their summer Eldorado: Turkey, whose numbers had plummeted since the start of the pandemic and which did not skimp to find this clientele.

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