EU foreign ministers will this week endorse a suspension of the visa agreement with Moscow. The goal is to reduce the number of travel permits issued, after some eastern member countries threatened to close its borders to Russian tourists.
Some countries have demanded collective action from the EU to prevent Russian citizens from traveling to the EU on tourist visas. This supposes one more challenge in relations between Europe and Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.
Countries like Czech Republic and Polandamong others, stopped issuing visas to Russian tourists shortly after President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February. Now, in addition, they have demanded that Brussels enact a total ban, a request they share with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
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During this time, many member states have issued this type of document to Russian citizens, which has allowed them to travel anywhere in the world. Schengen area with visa. For this reason, the ministers plan to support the suspension of the visa agreement between the EU and Russia in a two-day meeting in Prague. It will start this next Tuesday.
“It is inappropriate for Russian tourists to walk through our cities and our marinas,” he assured. Financial Times a senior EU official involved in the talks. “We have to send a signal to the Russian population that this war is not right, it is not acceptable”, he added.
More expensive procedures
Some parts of the 2007 agreement, related to the free movement of government officials and businessmen, were suspended at the beginning of the war. However, an extension of that would remove preferential treatment for Russians when applying for all EU visas. This would require more documents, which would make them more expensive and would significantly increase waiting times.
“We are in an exceptional situation and it requires exceptional measures. We want to go beyond suspending the granting of visas”, said the senior EU official. He has also pointed out that deeper changes could be introduced on this issue by the end of the year.
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For now, no consensus on additional measures that Brussels could take to reduce the number of EU visas issued to Russians. The debate centers on whether to stop their broadcast altogether or also extend any bans to citizens of Belarus, a country that has supported the invasion. Some member states, including Germany, have already warned of the dangers of an outright ban.
Joseph Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security of the EU, will chair the talks in Prague. The Spanish leader has assured that he opposes the ban on all Russian visas, saying that the bloc needs to “be more selective”.
Baltic countries position
Finland, Poland and the Baltic States bordering Russia have suggested they are prepared to stop allowing Russians on tourist visas to enter their territories.
With the suspension of air travel between the EU and Russia, many Russian tourists use these countries as a transit route to other destinations in the Union. Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of Estoniastated last week that the 30% of Russians traveling to the EU they do it through the Baltic country.
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“I hope to find a joint European solution on how to significantly limit the flows of Russian tourists to Europe,” said the Russian Foreign Minister. Lithuania, Gabrielius Landsbergis, who has described an agreement between the 27 as “the most sustainable and legally correct”. The leader has warned that “if you don’t find a joint solutionwe do not rule out a regional agreement between the countries most affected by the enormous flows of Russian tourists, who abuse European hospitality.”
kyiv takes advantage of blackmail
Ukraine has taken advantage of the Gas increase announced by Russia to join forces with the international community. kyiv not only needs weapons to fight the war and be able to confront Moscow, but also the support of the largest number of countries in the world to diplomatically isolate the Kremlin.
With the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Russian hands, kyiv is trying at all costs to involve the international community in its armed conflict with Moscow, which opposes the internationalization of war.
“If we let Russia win the war, then it will be able to dictate its conditions to Europe. A chain reaction will begin in the world in which other authoritarian states will understand that they can achieve their goals with the help of an aggressive war,” he warned. finnish daily Mikhailo PodolyakUkrainian adviser.
This new strategy on the part of Ukraine comes after Russia’s ordeal to Europe, which has threatened to raise the price of gas to 5,000 euros per thousand cubic meters by the end of 2022. This will mean a 42.8% increase on the invoice. This was announced this Sunday by the deputy head of the Russian Security Council and former president of the country, Dmitry Medvedev. Western countries link this increase to the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.
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