Almost six months after the start of the invasion of Ukraine ordered by Vladimir Putinthe doors of some countries of the European Union (EU) begin to close for Russian tourists.
The governments of Estonia and Finland are leading an initiative that seeks to close Russian tourists access to the Schengen zone of free transit, which includes 22 EU members as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
“It is not correct that Russian citizens can travel, enter the European Schengen zone, be tourists, see the landscapes, while Russia is killing people in the Ukraine. That is wrong,” Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin said at a news conference in Oslo on Tuesday.
His stance was seconded by Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who wrote on Twitter: “Visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right.” She then she added: “It’s time to end tourism from Russia now”.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, the EU has banned flights to and from Russia.
However, land borders have remained open, so many Russians have been traveling overland to Finland and Estonia, two EU countries with which Russia shares land borders, and from there taking flights to other Schengen destinations.
Last week, Finnish public broadcaster YLE reported that there are Russian companies that offer ground transfers from St. Petersburgthe second largest city in Russia, to Helsinki and Lappeenranta airports in Finland, from where they can fly to numerous European destinations.
Traffic limitations
Some EU countries such as Latvia have begun to suspend the issuance of visas to Russian tourists due to the war, but these measures are ineffective if a decision is not made that affects the entire membership of the Schengen area.
According to the rules of this free transit zone, a tourist must apply for the visa of the country he intends to visit, but once he has it you can enter the Schengen zone through any of the member countries and transit freely for 90 days in a period of 180 days.
Spain, Italy and Greece are the three countries that issue the most tourist visas to Russian citizens.
For the last month, Finland and Estonia have been calling for a joint approach within the EU to close what they see as a “loophole” in the sanctions imposed on Russia that allows its citizens to travel by land, while they are prohibited fly or travel by train to the EU.
In the case of Finland, which had kept the issuance of visas to Russian citizens suspended due to the covid-19 pandemic, it began to issue them again last July, although in much smaller quantities than it used to.
However, the government already announced plans to reduce the number of appointments for visa applications in Russia from 1,000 to 500 a dayof which only 100 will be destined for tourists.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Marin has said that the issue of visas for Russian citizens should be discussed by the EU.
As reported by YLE, this is expected to happen on August 31 during the summit of European foreign ministers.
“I think that in future meetings of the European Council, this topic will come up even more strongly. My personal position is that tourism should be restricted,” Marin told YLE.
Objections in Moscow… and Germany
Calls to ban Russian tourism have generated outrage in Russia and not just in the Kremlin.
On social networks, some opposition figures have questioned the idea, considering that it feeds the government’s anti-Western propaganda and that it does not facilitate a solution to the conflict in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov dismissed the initiative, pointing out that over time “common sense will manifest itself and those who made those statements will come to their senses”.
The proposal has also encountered strong resistance from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“This is not the war of the Russian people. This is Putin’s war and we have to be very clear on this matter.”said the president on Tuesday during a press conference in Oslo.
“It is important that we understand that there are many people fleeing Russia because they disagree with the Russian regime,” he added.
But those who advocate the ban are not oblivious to these nuances, as the Finnish Prime Minister herself indicated.
“This is not a question of black and white, there are also different shades of gray. There are also many people in Russia who are against the war, who are under threat… », she added.
To deal with this dilemma, Finland is considering the creation of a humanitarian visa that could be granted to Russian citizens who need to flee that country or travel to Europe to participate in activities related to lobbying or journalistic work.
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, however, has a very clear position that he expressed last Monday in an interview with The Washington Post. Your posture of him? All Western countries should close their doors to Russian tourists.