presiding in EU The Czech Republic is in favor of abolishing the issuance of Schengen visas to Russian citizens.
About this in an interview with the publication Novelty Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Wednesday, backing a total ban on Schengen visas for Russians proposed by some EU member states. He said:
“The Czech Republic has repeatedly raised this issue at meetings in Brussels at the level of prime ministers and foreign ministers, and seeks a coordinated approach of the entire European Union.”
The head of the Czech Foreign Ministry recalled that the Czech Republic was the first, back on February 25, to ban the issuance of visas to citizens of Russia, and then Belarus, in connection with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine:
“During the Russian aggression, which is still changing its declared borders, one cannot talk about ordinary tourism for Russian citizens. This is a matter of our security, I have been trying for a long time to reduce the influence of Russian special services in the EU.”
Earlier, Kaya Kallas, Prime Minister of Estonia, called for stopping the issuance of tourist visas to Russians for trips to the European Union. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin also advocates limiting the issuance of tourist visas to Russians at the European level.
Urmas Reinsalu, head of the Estonian Foreign Ministry, said on August 3 that Estonia will submit a proposal to the EU to ban the issuance of tourist visas to Russians within the next week. This Baltic country has not been issuing tourist visas to them since the spring. At the end of July, the government approved a ban on granting Russian citizens a temporary residence permit or visa for the purpose of education.
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