Will the Schengen be canceled for Russians?

ATOR, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, called the statement about the possibility of a ban on the issuance of a Schengen visa to Russian citizens a fake.

The press service of the ATOR notes that the statements of the politicians of Estonia and Finland on this matter are isolated and are “fakes that increase the degree of tension”:

“We are talking about discussions in the media and statements by individual politicians. In the Finnish parliament, at least now, no bills are being prepared that would restrict the visa process in Russia. No decisions and documents were made either in Finland or at the level EU“.

Moreover, the organization reports that the Deputy Prime Minister of Finland confirmed the continuation of the issuance of visas as usual and noted that the government currently does not plan to take any decisions on the visa ban. The issue of terminating the visa process should be agreed at the level of the European Union and the Schengen countries, she stressed.

The Association of Tour Operators of Russia also states that France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Hungary and other European countries are accepting documents of Russian citizens for visas.

Although Ivan Volynkin, director of the consular department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, earlier in an interview with TASS said that in the light of the actions of the West, Russia does not exclude the possibility of a situation where Schengen visas for Russians will not be issued. Noting at the same time that such scenarios are possible only in the case of “radical degradation of consular relations.”

Volynkin acknowledged that several European countries – Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Estonia – actually no longer issue visas to Russian citizens. So far, according to him, calls to refuse to issue Schengen to Russian citizens “are made by odious politicians or public figures-Russophobes, and we perceive them accordingly.”

The representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Moscow continues to support the preservation of the possibility of mutual trips of citizens of the Russian Federation and the EU, counting on the pragmatism and common sense of Europe. Even if the European Union refuses to issue visas, he emphasizes, Moscow is counting on the opportunity to negotiate with individual European countries.

The diplomat noted that Russia is constantly working to simplify the visa regime with foreign countries: “Currently, there are about 18 countries.” Among them are the countries of the Caribbean and Latin America, China, Malaysia, he quotes GreekReporter.

Meanwhile, the European Commission announced the impossibility of completely stopping the issuance of visas to Russians, as stated in the response of the representative of the European Commission to a request from the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. EU rules do not allow a complete halt to issuance of visas to Russians: there are always groups of people to whom visas must be granted, the European Commission said. At the same time, it is emphasized that the EU sanctions against Russia are not directed against ordinary Russians, and each EU member state makes decisions on visas independently.

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