- Title: EU to tighten visa rules for Russians but split on travel ban
- Date: 30th August 2022
- Summary: HELSINKI, FINLAND (AUGUST 27, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CARS WITH RUSSIAN PLATES CAR WITH RUSSIAN LICENSE PLATE LEAVING CAR PARK EUROPEAN UNION AND FINNISH FLAGS
- Embargoed: 13th September 2022 17:23
- Keywords: EU foreign ministers European Union Finland foreign minister Helsinki airport Hungarian foreign minister Latvian foreign minister Prague meeting visa bans visas for Russians
- Location: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC / HELSINKI, FINLAND
- City: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC / HELSINKI, FINLAND
- Country: Czech Republic
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Europe,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA005157330082022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:
SEE EDIT 1477-UKRAINE-CRISIS/RUSSIA-VISAS FOR KREMLIN'S REACTION TO VISA BAN
SEE EDIT 1513-UKRAINE-CRISIS/GERMANY VISA FOR GERMANY'S STANCE ON VISA BAN
European Union foreign ministers are likely to agree to suspend a visa facilitation agreement with Moscow and make Russians wait longer and pay more for their visas, diplomats said on Tuesday (August 30), while the bloc remained split over an outright EU travel ban.
Eastern and Nordic countries strongly back a tourist visa ban and some said they could go for a regional one if there was no agreement at EU level.
Speaking ahead of the EU foreign ministers meeting in Prague, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said there were more and more tourist routes through Helsinki Vantaa airport.
"We are not looking that very favourably in the way in the situation when there is a war in Europe," Haavisto said.
Russian tourists began using Finland's Helsinki-Vantaa airport as a gateway to European holiday destinations following Russia's lifting of pandemic-related border restrictions last month.
Scores of cars with Russian license plates could be seen in the long-stay car park at Helsinki's airport.
Finnish land border crossings have remained among the few entry points into Europe for Russians after a string of Western countries closed their airspace to Russian planes in response to Russia's attack on Ukraine.
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics rejected the argument that travelling to the West could change the Russians' minds, saying visas had been issued for Russians for 30 years hoping the country would change.
Germany and France warned it would be counter-productive to ban ordinary Russians, a move advocated by Kyiv in response to Russia's invasion and backed by some EU members like Hungary, and the agreement's suspension was a compromise that could be reached at the ministers' two-day meeting in Prague.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin slammed talk of a tourist visa ban as "irrational."
Describing the calls for a visa ban as an example of the West's "anti-Russian agenda," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Step by step, unfortunately, both Brussels and individual European capitals are demonstrating an absolute lack of reason."
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