EU’s chief diplomat opposes blanket ban on visas for Russians

The EU’s chief diplomat said he is opposed to a blanket ban on EU visas for Russians, ahead of talks between the bloc’s officials on the proposal next week prompted by demands from some countries to stop issuing the travel permits.

Countries including Finland, Estonia and the Czech Republic have called for Brussels to implement an EU-wide ban on new tourist visas for Russians to enter the EU’s Schengen free travel area as punishment for Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

The rebuke by Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, comes ahead of a meeting of bloc foreign ministers in Prague next week set to discuss the issue. Borrell will chair those talks.

“To forbid the entrance to all Russians is not a good idea,” Borrell said on Monday at a conference in Spain. “We have to be more selective.”

A spokesperson for the European External Action Service, the branch of the European Commission that Borrell heads, did not respond to a request for comment regarding Borrell’s comment.

Some EU member states have unilaterally suspended visas for Russians, but have complained that Russians are entering their territory using visas issued by other EU countries, under the Schengen rules.

Russia’s foreign ministry last week described the mooted ban as “an expression of xenophobia and neo-Nazism.”

The issue has divided member states, with some larger countries, including Germany, cautioning against a complete ban. They argued that the EU should not cut all ties with the Russian people, some of whom are opposed to the war.

“To the oligarchs we must not open the door, of course . . . We have to block the entrance to these Russians,” Borrell said. “But there are many Russians who want to flee the country because they don’t want to live in this situation.”

More than 300,000 Russians have fled their country since President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine almost six months ago, Borrell said.

“Are we going to close the door to these Russians? I don’t think it’s
a good idea,” he added.

The Czech Republic, which holds the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, giving it greater clout over policy direction and bloc priorities, has said it backs the move for the entire EU to suspend Russian tourist visas.

“What we need to do as EU is to redefine our relationship with Russia. The relationship is founded on certain principles that are completely outdated because they are not based on warmongering on our borders,” Jan Lipavský, Czech foreign minister, told the Financial Times.

Lipavský said Prague supported rewriting the EU’s rule of engagement with Moscow, noting, for example, that “there is still an association treaty for visas” with Russia. 

Overall, Lipavský said he hoped to make progress on the issue at next week’s ministerial meeting because the treaties and international law needed to be “based on the assumption that you are sitting at the table with someone who is not ready to wage war on you.”