Finland wants to slow down the issuance of tourist visas to Russians

The Finnish authorities are discussing the introduction of a new mechanism for issuing tourist visas to Russians, which will help slow down this process, said Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. It is assumed that only one day can be available for this in a week.

“In practice, this may mean that you can apply for a tourist visa on Mondays, and from Tuesday to Friday you can apply for a visa for family reasons, study, work or other reasons,” the diplomat said in an interview with the TV channel. MTV3.

On August 10, the official representative of the German government, Steffen Hebestreit, during a briefing, said that the EU began discussing the initiative of a number of countries of the union to ban the issuance of visas to Russian citizens. The next day, the Estonian authorities were the first in the EU to decide to ban Russians with Schengen visas, which were issued by the republic, from entering the country. At the same time, the restriction does not apply to employees of diplomatic missions in the state, as well as to members of their families. In addition, the action will not apply to those who enter Estonia for humanitarian reasons, close relatives of citizens of the republic or holders of a permanent residence permit.

The decision does not yet apply to Russian citizens who received Schengen visas through third countries, but this issue is planned to be discussed next week, the Estonian Foreign Ministry reported.

On August 11, the Saeima of Latvia recognized Russia as a sponsor of terrorism. The head of the Latvian Foreign Ministry, Edgars Rinkevics, said that residents of Latvia who have received Russian citizenship will have to leave the country, since they will no longer be issued a residence permit. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the Baltic countries suspended the issuance of tourist visas by August 11, while Slovenia imposed restrictions.