Finnish Prime Minister Marine: sanctions should affect the lives of ordinary Russians
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The sanctions of Western countries against Russia should also affect the lives of ordinary citizens, said Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
“Sanctions should be reflected in the daily lives of ordinary Russians,” she stressed (quoted by TASS). Marin also spoke out against “Russian tourists traveling freely in Europe” while the conflict continues in Ukraine.
“For this reason, we must impose strict restrictions on the issuance of visas. In the current situation, the complete suspension of the visa facilitation agreement between the EU and Russia is justified, but this alone is not enough,” she concluded.
On September 9, the Council of the European Union decided to completely suspend the visa facilitation agreement between the EU and Russia. The European Commission recommended that member countries of the Union increase the time for issuing visas to Russian citizens to 45 days against the current 15, issue them only for travel dates and check all applications for possible security threats.
The decision to abandon the simplified visa regime with Russia in the EU was made following an informal meeting of the EU foreign ministers, which took place on August 31 in Prague. At the same time, the Baltic countries, as well as Poland and Finland, insisted on a complete halt in the issuance of visas for Russians. However, a number of countries, including Germany, Greece and France, opposed this initiative.
Later, the foreign ministers of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia said they intended to take additional measures on their own. They have already agreed on restrictions on the entry of Russians into the Schengen area through their land borders. The restrictions will come into effect after September 19.
To date, nine European countries no longer accept documents for obtaining visas from Russian tourists. These include Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands.
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