The European Commission is preparing a new strategy for issuing visas to citizens of the Russian Federation
The European Commission announced that it is preparing a new strategy for issuing visas for citizens of Russia. The reason was the Russian drone attack on Poland on September 10. This was announced at the briefing by spokesman Markus Lammert.
Marcus Lammert, he called restrictions on issuing visas for Russians one of the “unprecedented measures” of the European Commission in response to a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“In 2022, we have already suspended the visa facilitation agreement with Russia. In addition, from 2022, we have also adopted various clear recommendations to help member states not grant priority visas to Russians and to emphasize the importance of security and border control, the spokesman said.
The European Commission continues to monitor how EU member states implement the recommendations on visas for Russians. According to Lammert, the ministers of justice of the EU countries received relevant instructions in March 2025.
“Regarding the strategy we will present at the end of this year. The new visa strategy is indeed being prepared, and as for further actions, you just need to follow the updates”, Markus Lammert emphasized.
He also drew attention to the fact that starting in 2023, EU countries will annually issue about 500,000 visas to citizens of Russia, while in 2019 this figure exceeded 4 million.
