The Council of the European Union should terminate the validity of tourist visas issued to citizens of Russia and immediately impose a ban on issuing them new visas. Estonian mass media published such a statement by Estonian MEP Urmas Paet.
“Russian tourists traveling to EU countries and the Schengen zone are currently inappropriate. The Council of the European Union may decide to terminate the validity of tourist visas currently issued and not to issue any new ones. Russian support for the war must come at a price. Several months ago, restrictions were imposed on air traffic between Russia and Europe. One of the points of this was that Russian citizens should not travel to Europe. The same should apply to other types of transport,” the official said.
The Estonian member of the European Parliament said that this does not mean that Russian citizens should completely stop traveling. “Uganda and Ethiopia have just reaffirmed their great friendship with Russia. These are good places for beach vacations and shopping,” he added sarcastically and noted that Russian tourists should be prohibited from entering EU countries and the Schengen zone for recreation and shopping.
We will remind you that earlier a similar statement was made in Finland (details here).