MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st August, 2022) The European Union is "quite close" to agree an issuance ban of Schengen visas for the Russian elite, without imposing full-scale visa restrictions on Russian nationals as the bloc cannot unanimously agree on the issue, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Wednesday.
"I absolutely understand that we need to find some common European position, and there is not an agreement on a full ban for tourist visa, but I think we are quite close to find a way how to send a strong signal to Moscow and the Russian elite. Because every citizen is not traveling to Europe as a tourist, this is the Russian elite, we have to understand that," Lipavsky said ahead of the EU informal foreign affairs meeting in Prague.
The foreign minister also said that the bloc should solve "a practical problem" of the Northern Baltic states, whose borders are "overflown with traffic," which causes security concern, adding that he is "pretty sure" that the EU would find a solution.
Calls have been mounting for the European Commission to ban Russian tourists from entering the EU's area in response to the Russian special operation in Ukraine. In late July, Estonia proposed that Brussels block Russian citizens from entering Europe at the bloc level. Prior to that, the commission said that the member countries cannot completely stop issuing Schengen visas to Russian citizens, adding that member states could decide for themselves on the issuance of short-term Schengen visas and consider each application on an individual basis.
Some EU countries, including the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland and the Netherlands, have already limited the issuance of Schengen visas to Russian citizens. France and Germany have so far refused to back Baltic and some central European states on their initiative.
