Aug. 16 () –
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto has reported that Finland will limit visa conditions for Russian tourists to ten percent of the current number from September in retaliation for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Finnish authorities have developed a model under which priority would be given to those applying for visas for family, work or study reasons. Finland accepts around 1,000 applications a day from Russian citizens, so that will now drop to just 100 from next month.
It is also considering putting in place legislation to allow new sanctions, while it is studying a humanitarian visa to facilitate the transfer to Finland of journalists, dissidents and activists, according to the public television channel YLE.
Haavisto has already confirmed that the Executive led by Sanna Marin had approved a plan that would restrict requests from Russian citizens. This comes after Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky openly called on all countries in the international community to ban Russian citizens from entering their respective territories.
The measure was launched after receiving criticism for what many considered to be a way of violating the sanctions imposed by the European Union against Russia, given that thousands of people from Russia continued to enter EU territory after crossing the border with Finland in car despite the fact that traveling by plane or train to the EU is prohibited.
At the beginning of August, the European Commission avoided commenting on a possible veto on tourist visas for Russian citizens, leaving it to the Member States of the European Union to limit visas for tourists arriving in European territory by land.
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