The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Péter Szijártó, said that the heads of foreign affairs of the EU countries agreed to cancel the agreement with Russia on the simplified issuance of visas.
Reuters writes about it.
Now Russians will have to pay an increased consular fee (€80 instead of €35) and submit more documents. The process of obtaining a visa will now take longer.
The head of the Foreign Ministry could not agree to a complete ban on issuing visas to Russians, as some countries, in particular Hungary, were against it. Russiaʼs neighbors — the Baltic states, Poland and Finland — demanded a complete ban on issuing tourist visas to citizens of the Russian Federation. It was through these countries that Russians traveled to the EU after the cancellation of air travel due to the war against Ukraine.
- The day before, the largest group in the European Parliament — the European Peopleʼs Party — called to stop issuing tourist visas to Russians because of Russiaʼs war against Ukraine.
- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland stated that the free entry of Russian citizens to EU countries threatens public safety. They promised to collectively introduce restrictive measures for the entry of Russians into their territories.
- Denmark has already stated that it is ready to limit the issuance of visas to Russians regardless of the EUʼs decision. Poland is separately developing a concept that will allow Russians to be denied visas.