Finland, which remains the only land window to Europe for Russian tourists, has asked the European Union Commission to develop a joint recommendation for all member states of the Schengen zone, according to which Russians with a valid Schengen visa in their passport will no longer be allowed to enter the EU. In other words, invalidate or cancel visas issued to Russian citizens and introduce a total entry ban for Russian tourists.
A press release issued by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sent to the EU Commission read as follows: “Finland requests a recommendation according to which Schengen countries, preventing the entry of Russian citizens to their borders, at the same time either cancel or cancel the visa of a person or deny the person entry by normal Schengen practice.”
According to the letter from the Finnish authorities, Finland requires the Commission to allow member states or cancel the visas of Russian citizens who are refused at one of the Schengen borders. Another option is to add them to the Schengen Information System (SIS) as prohibited persons. The press release notes that this will prevent Russian citizens who are denied entry at one border from entering the borderless territory through another border crossing.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland also proposed to include tourist visas in the areas of EU sanctions to strengthen the unity of the EU. This was done at the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the EU, which took place on September 19.
“Finland considers it important to take steps to achieve a common EU line regarding Russia’s visa restrictions,” the letter also emphasized.
We will remind you that on September 9, the Council of the European Union supported the proposal to completely block the validity of the visa facilitation agreement with Russia, which entered into force in 2007. It simplified the issuance of visas to citizens of the Union and the Russian Federation for an intended stay of no more than 90 days during any 180 days.
As part of this measure, citizens of the Russian Federation will now have to pay higher fees for applying for a Schengen visa (from 35 to 80 euros), more documents will be required to apply, and the waiting time for visa status will increase. In addition, applicants are unlikely to be able to get multiple visas, they will have to settle for single ones.
This step was considered insufficient by Poland and the three Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and on September 19 they introduced their own anti-Russian rules for tourists: they began to prevent the entry into their territory of all Russian travelers who appear at their borders, regardless of the presence they have Schengen visas.
Since the ban came into effect, dozens of Russian citizens have been refused entry to these countries. Finland’s new proposal is aimed at banning all Russians holding valid Schengen visas who have been refused entry at the borders of these four countries from crossing the borders of any other Schengen country. According to the EU Commission, as of September 1, 2022, about 963,000 Russians had valid Schengen visas.