11 European countries called on the European Commission to impose additional restrictions on the issuance of Schengen visas to Russian citizens. This has been reported Politico, German wave And the Polish edition RMF24. They point to a letter sent by European countries to the head of European diplomacy, Kai Kallas, and the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner.
Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as non-EU Norway and Iceland, are calling for a restriction on the issuance of Schengen visas to Russians.
The authors of the letter state that in 2022, the European Commission suspended the simplified visa regime with Russia and tightened recommendations for considering visa applications from Russians, but these recommendations are applied unevenly by EU countries, undermining the unified position of the European Union. The letter notes that this allows Russians to engage in “visa tourism”, that is, to search for countries with more lenient conditions for issuing visas.
According to the authors of the letter, Russian tourists are enjoying their vacations on European beaches and resorts, “while missiles and drones continue to strike civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.” They consider this situation unacceptable.
RMF24 wrote, referring to the letter, that 11 European countries are demanding that they immediately stop issuing Schengen visas to Russians. Politico and Deutsche Welle do not use such language.
Before the start of the Great Russo-Ukrainian War, Russia had an agreement on a simplified visa regime with the European Union, which gave Russian citizens advantages in the form of long-term multiple entry visas, reduced fees and shorter application processing time. In 2022, the agreement was cancelled. Some EU countries have stopped issuing short-term visas for tourist trips to Russians. These include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland and the Netherlands.
In November 2025, the European Commission announced the suspension of issuing multiple-entry Schengen visas to Russian citizens. The European Commission said in a statement that Russians “will have to apply for a new visa every time they plan to travel to the European Union.” According to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, as of March 2026, the number of multiple entry visas issued to Russians since January this year has decreased by at least 90% compared to the same period in 2025.
According to official statistics of the European Union, in 2025, EU countries issued 620 thousand Schengen visas to Russian citizens, which is 10.2% more than the previous year. For the entire year of 2025, Russians submitted more than 670 thousand applications for visas – this is 8% more than in 2024. Almost three-quarters of all visa applications from Russians come from France, Italy and Spain.