Terminate the visa facilitation agreement with Russia and, in particular, cancel multi-year Schengen visas. German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock proposed such an “average severity” measure for Russian tourists.
“My proposal and I believe it has good grounds, is to make it clear that we are suspending the visa facilitation agreement with Russia. This step will make it impossible for Russian citizens to obtain multi-year Schengen visas from Germany. Also, in the future, the authorities of the European Union countries will check more carefully the purpose for which Russians receive visas,” said the head of the German Foreign Ministry.
At the same time, she noted that Germany “is in the middle of Europe not only geographically”, but also takes a middle position regarding a possible ban on issuing visas to citizens of Russia – while some EU countries demand a complete cessation of issuing visas to Russians, and other states, on the contrary, believe that such a step is impractical. The proposed measure, that is, the abolition of at least multi-year visas, she said, would be a “good bridge” to resolve internal differences in the EU.
However, the head of the German Foreign Ministry clarified that it is necessary to preserve the possibility of obtaining Schengen visas for people from categories necessary for the support of European values, such as students and persons persecuted in Russia for political reasons.