EU to suspend 2007 visa agreement with russia

The European Union has suspended the 2007 visa agreement with russia, which simplified the issuance of Schengen visas to russians. However, there is no decision on a complete visa ban, since there is no unanimity among countries on this issue.

According to Reuters, “Germany and France warned it would be counter-productive to ban ordinary Russians… and the agreement’s suspension was a compromise that could be reached at the ministers’ two-day meeting in Prague.” However “Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba swiftly rejected the argument that travelling to the West could change the Russians’ minds, saying Moscow fought a brief war with Georgia and annexed Crimea since securing easier EU visas in 2007.”

“Until such measures are in place on the EU level, we … will consider introducing on the national level temporary measures of visa ban, or restricting border crossing for Russian citizens holding EU visas, in order to address imminent public security issues,” Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland said in a joint statement, quoted by the Financial Times.

“We have seen a substantial increase of border crossings from Russia into neighbouring states. This is becoming a security risk”, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said on Twitter.