Eleven European countries, including the Czech Republic and Poland, called on the European Commission (EC) in a letter on Tuesday to introduced stricter visa restrictions for citizens of Russia and enforced the current ones in all member states. TASR informs about this according to Wednesday’s report of the PAP agency.
The letter was addressed to the Head of EU Diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, and the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner. In addition to the Czech Republic and Poland, it was signed by Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Iceland and Norway as non-EU countries.
The latest diplomatic effort was prompted by an increase in approved visas for Russian citizens. According to according to official data, European states issued 623,000 visas to Russians in 2025 – ten percent more than in 2024. Almost 480,000 were tourist, and France, Italy and Spain issued the most.
According to the letter, the number of these visas was for multiple entries, and they consider it a direct contradiction to the EC guidelineswhich urge a strict attitude towards Russians traveling to the EU for unjustified reasons. They called it one of the biggest weaknesses of the EU’s unified policy towards Russia.
Although, according to the signatories of the letter, the EC correctly suspended the visa facilitation agreement with Russia in September 2022, several member states did not implement subsequent restrictive guidelines. They also expressed deep concern over the growing number of Russian tourists vacationing in European resortswhile Russian missiles and drones attack Ukraine. With the holiday season approaching, they are demanding that the EC explicitly ban Russian military veterans from entering the Schengen area.
