The head of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Urmas Reinsalu, has proposed banning the issuance of Schengen visas to Russian citizens, as part of the next package of anti-Russian sanctions. The minister raised this issue during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. Bloomberg.
“We must raise the price of Russian aggression through additional sanctions, weapons and increased isolation of Russia,” Reinsalu, who is still in Kiev, said in a phone call.
According to him, “As President Vladimir Putin continues his invasion of Ukraine,” EU countries “must further isolate the country”.
“It will be a very difficult winter. Russia will certainly try to take advantage of the situation to disrupt the unity of the West,” warned Reinsalu.
The minister emphasized that Russia is trying to “destroy the Ukrainian state” and openly supported the policy of the Latvian authorities, which requires Russian citizens to enter the country and sign a document condemning the “invasion”.
“The important thing is that there is no sign of fatigue in the political support given to Ukraine,” Reinsalu said.
Entry to Latvia
According to the official newspaper, Riga announced today that it is suspending a number of agreements with Moscow, including economic cooperation and simplified mutual travel for residents of border areas. Latvian Vestnet.
From 16 May, the Latvian side suspended agreements on preventing double taxation and tax evasion on taxes on income, as well as Article 13 of the intergovernmental agreement on the social protection of military pensioners and members of the Russian Federation. their families reside on the territory of Latvia”, which allowed the parliament to approve the demolition of the monument to the Saviors of Riga.
Edgars Rinkevich, former head of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called The European Union will ban the issuance of tourist visas to citizens of the Russian Federation. “I reiterate the EU’s proposal to impose a tourist visa ban on Russian citizens,” he said.
Russian citizens entering Latvian territory, oblige
Sign a document condemning the special military operation in Ukraine, otherwise they will not be allowed to enter the country. According to Riga, measures were taken due to the dissatisfaction of residents of Latvia, who do not like the presence of Russian citizens in their country.
Entry to Finland
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haaavisto declarationHe said the country would raise the issue of compliance with the EU sanctions regime of issuing tourist Schengen visas to Russians at the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers at the end of August. At a meeting in the EU, the practices of Schengen countries that still issue visas to Russians should be discussed,” he said.
In his view, visas should only be issued to applicants who wish to “visit Suomi for family reasons, work or study”.
Haaavisto said that limiting the ability to make appointments at Finnish diplomatic missions is the fastest way to reduce the number of tourist visas.
According to the survey results YLE58% of Finns are in favor of stopping issuing tourist visas to Russians. A quarter – 24% – insisted on continuing the procedure, and 18% could not decide on the choice of answer.
“Emotional Actions”
Individual EU member states, including the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Latvia, have imposed visa restrictions on Russian citizens in addition to stopping direct flights from Russia. But the EU-wide visa ban has yet to reach consensus across the bloc.
Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov previously expressed the hope that “the EU will think soberly” on entry visas. At the same time, he did not exclude that “actions of an emotional nature” would be carried out.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also noted that Moscow “should be ready for any developments due to possible visa discrimination against Russians, but understand that EU officials should understand that any of their hostile actions will not remain without a proportional response”.