Four of the European Union Member states, including Latvia, Poland, Estonia and Lithuania, in their recent move have restricted most Russian travellers on Monday in an EU show of support for Ukraine.
The EU Member States of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will now block Russian citizens with EU visas from visiting for tourism, culture, sports as well as business purposes.
Whereas, people who are holding residence permits, family members, humanitarian cases along with dissidents are exempted from the ban.
The EU countries that shares a land border with Russia have become a transit hub for Russians who are looking to travel further into Europe after the EU barred Russian flights in reply to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The four nations went further than an EU-wide decision last month to suspend a visa facilitation deal with Moscow, making it longer and more expensive for Russians seeking to end the 27-member states bloc.
Meanwhile, Russia added at the time that it would not respond to the move. Finland, which also shares a land border with Russia, slashed the number of visas issued to Russian citizens to 10% on September 1, but has not joined the Baltic and Polish ban.
The European Union says it recorded more than 1 million entries, including multiple visits on the same visa, of Russian nationals in the first half of 2022. As the Polish and Baltic bans went into force this morning, Russia’s Embassy in Latvia decried what it called “outrageous” demands by Latvian border guards to sign a statement condemning the Kremlin.
