{"id":1452019,"date":"2026-10-13T09:38:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T06:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/?p=1452019"},"modified":"2026-10-13T09:38:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T06:38:26","slug":"finland-calls-on-the-eu-to-ban-tourist-visas-for-russians-what-other-restrictions-are-proposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/finland-calls-on-the-eu-to-ban-tourist-visas-for-russians-what-other-restrictions-are-proposed\/","title":{"rendered":"Finland calls on the EU to ban tourist visas for Russians: what other restrictions are proposed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen has called on the European Union to completely ban the issuance of Schengen tourist visas to Russians until the war in Ukraine is over. Helsinki is also proposing additional entry restrictions for people close to Vladimir Putin, athletes and former Russian military personnel.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This was reported by the Finnish Foreign Ministry.<\/p>\n<p>The Finnish Foreign Ministry stressed that Russian citizens should not receive tourist visas while Moscow continues its aggression against Ukraine. The ministry considers it unacceptable that Russians can freely travel around Europe and enjoy its freedoms while Russia attacks Ukrainian cities and homes.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We must stop issuing tourist visas for Russian citizens across the EU.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I have invited other EU Member States to join a letter addressed to the European Commission. I am calling for a complete EU ban on Russian tourist visas for as long as Russia continues its war of aggression.<\/p>\n<p>It is not right that Russians can travel to Europe to enjoy the way of life and freedoms here while their country bombs the homes of Ukrainians. Issuing visas to Russians for non-essential travel was banned in Finland already in 2022. The same must finally happen at the EU level.<\/p>\n<p>I am also calling for a ban on Schengen visas to Putin&#8217;s inner circle, visa restrictions for Russian athletes, and the effective implementation of the visa ban on Russian combatants.<\/p>\n<p>The EU must act together.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/t.co\/y8eYYNu1lw<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elina Valtonen (@elinavaltonen) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/elinavaltonen\/status\/2109593541491982680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">October 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is wrong that Russians can travel around Europe, enjoy our way of life and freedoms, while their country bombs Ukrainian homes,&#8221; Valtonen said.<\/p>\n<p>She recalled that Finland introduced a ban on issuing visas to Russians for non-essential travel back in 2022. Now the country seeks to extend similar restrictions to the entire European Union.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The same thing should finally happen at the EU level,&#8221; the head of the Finnish Foreign Ministry emphasized.<\/p>\n<h2>How many tourist visas did Russians receive?<\/h2>\n<p>One of Helsinki&#8217;s arguments is the increase in the number of tourist Schengen visas issued to Russian citizens despite the war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 2025, the Schengen Area countries issued almost 500,000 tourist visas to Russians. This figure has been increasing in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>Finland has called on other EU states to join a joint appeal to the European Commission. The letter plans to advocate for tightening visa restrictions for Russian citizens.<\/p>\n<h2>What other restrictions does Finland offer?<\/h2>\n<p>In total, Helsinki has prepared five proposals to tighten the rules for entry of Russians into the European Union.<\/p>\n<p>These include a complete ban on issuing tourist visas and permits for other non-essential travel. The Finnish side also proposes a ban on issuing visas to the inner circle of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, as well as to individuals and organizations under EU sanctions.<\/p>\n<p>A separate point concerns Russian athletes and members of sports teams who have close ties to the Russian state. Finland proposes to restrict their entry into the European Union.<\/p>\n<p>Another initiative involves imposing restrictions on Russians who participated in the war against Ukraine. Previously, EU countries agreed on restrictions for former Russian military personnel, but due to disagreements between member states, the mechanism for implementing this ban was softened.<\/p>\n<p>The fifth proposal involves amending the EU Visa Code. Finland wants to create a mechanism that would allow for the prompt introduction of mandatory visa restrictions if relations with a third country deteriorate sharply due to political or security threats.<\/p>\n<p>The European Commission plans to present new proposals on visa policy in January. They are expected to include a stricter approach to states that pose a threat to the security of the European Union, in particular Russia.<\/p>\n<p>It was previously reported that <a href=\"https:\/\/prm.ua\/yes-zatverdyv-22-y-paket-sanktsiy-proty-rosii-pid-obmezhennia-potrapyly-mayzhe-1600-osib-ta-orhanizatsiy\/\">the European Union approved the 22nd package of sanctions against Russia, which included 826 legal entities and 743 individuals associated with the Russian military-industrial complex.<\/a> More than half of the new restrictions are aimed at the ballistic missile production chains.<\/p>\n<p>Also follow <strong>\u201cPryamim\u201d<\/strong> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pryamiy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Facebook<\/a> , <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/prm_ua\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">X<\/a> , <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/+rtV4dxYu2_cyNjVi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Telegram<\/a> , and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pryamiy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen has called on the European Union to completely ban the issuance of Schengen tourist visas to Russians until the war in Ukraine is over. Helsinki is also proposing additional entry restrictions for people close to Vladimir Putin, athletes and former Russian military personnel. This was reported by the Finnish Foreign [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":1244010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76875,76885],"class_list":["post-1452019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-other-news","category-policy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1452019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1452020,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452019\/revisions\/1452020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1244010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1452019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1452019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}