Reaction to the Ukraine War: Germany advertises more restrictive visa allocation to Russians

In the course of ongoing EU plans for a new package with Russia sanctions, the federal government also advertises a more restrictive allocation of entry permits into the Schengenraum. According to information from the German Press Agency, the complete implementation of 2022 published guidelines of the EU Commission is required in a position paper. With these, the allocation of Visa to Russian citizens for tourist trips or shopping tours in EU countries should have long since been severely restricted.

The latest figures show that this obviously does not happen. According to EU data last year, consulates in Russia were given around 542,000 visas for short-term stays in EU countries or in other Schengen countries such as Switzerland. That was significantly less than in the pre-corona year 2019, but around one fifth more than in 2023.

The development ensures frustration, especially in eastern EU countries. It has long been criticized there that it cannot be that rich Russians, who benefits from the government under Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin on Mediterranean beaches of EU countries, lie in the sun, while in Ukraine, countless people die from the Russian war of attack.

Southern EU countries in criticism

The view is particularly aimed at southern EU countries where Russians particularly like to go on vacation. The Italian consulates in Russia, for example, awarded more than 152,000 Schengen visa in 2024, which corresponds to an increase of around 12 percent compared to 2023. French consular officers recently exhibited around 124,000 visas in Russia, Spanish around 111,000 and Greek almost 60,000.

For comparison: In 2024, the German consulates in Russia only approved around 17,000 applications in Schengen-Visa for short stays. This was around 2,000 fewer than in the previous year and much less than in the pre-Corona year 2019 than there were almost 326,000.

Long-term visas are not included in the above-mentioned EU numbers and visas awarded in third countries are not included in Russian citizens. According to diplomats, however, they are good comparison data. The total number of Schengen-Visa, which was awarded by Germany in 2024 by Germany to Russian citizens, was recently given as around 27,300. In addition, there were around 11,300 national visas for long-term stays, which are necessary for study or work stays, for example.

“Very strict approach” has been required since 2022

A more restrictive visa allocation can be justified with the aim of preventing the tourist entry of Russians that are committed to the interests of the Russian government or even spread war propaganda. Formally, it could come about via a new regulation or a more consistent application of the EU Commission’s existing guidelines from 2022.

They say, for example, “with regard to Russian citizens who travel as tourists, a very strict approach is justified, since it is more difficult to assess the reason for the trip on tourist trips compared to other travel purposes (business trip, family visit or doctor’s appointment).”

The federal government initially did not want to comment on the EU internal position paper. From the Federal Foreign Office, it is said that Germany had tightened the criteria for visa allocation to Russian citizens at the beginning of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine. This applies to both national visas and in accordance with the EU guidelines for Schengen-Visa. In the latter, the 2024 number was more than 90 percent below that in 2019.

Authority of Ursula von der Leyen has a right of proposal

The European Commission could submit a specific proposal for the further procedure for awarding the visa by EU countries. She is currently working in close coordination with the EU member states on a plan for a new package with EU Russia sanctions. In Brussels, Germany and France are committed to proving the Russian energy giants Lukoil and service companies from the oil industry with criminal measures with it.

In addition, according to the will of Berlin and Paris, financial and logistical loopholes are to be concluded, through which Russia already deals with existing sanctions. Accordingly, other Russian banks, foreign financial institutions to the SPFS transaction system developed by the Russian Central Bank and cryptocurrency service providers in Central Asia could land on sanction lists.