The Finnish Foreign Ministry will consider options on how to complicate the provision of tourist visas to Russians, reports DW. The government will weigh possible solutions at an informal meeting on August 16.

For her part, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin expressed hope that Russian citizens' tours would be limited as a result of the expansion of EU sanctions.. The head of the Cabinet expects that the issue will be considered in the format of EU summits, in particular, in October 2022.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto previously proposed limiting the acceptance of Russian applications for a Schengen tourist visa to one day a week.. “In practice, this may mean that you can apply for tourist visas on Mondays, and from Tuesday to Friday only for visas for family reasons, study, work or other good reasons,” he suggests..

Earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky criticized the policy of issuing visas by the European Union to Russian citizens.. “You can’t destroy the very idea of \u200b\u200bEurope, our common European values, that is, you can’t turn Europe into a supermarket where it doesn’t matter who comes in, and most importantly, a person just pays for the goods,” Zelensky said in a video message on August 12. He thanked the Czech Republic, the Baltic states and other European countries that brought the issue to the level of official discussion in the EU..

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Zelensky acknowledged, however, that there are individuals who are being persecuted or could be killed in Russia and should be helped through refugee mechanisms..

The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has also already stated that they consider it necessary to ban the entry of Russian citizens at the level of the European Union as a whole.. "

Denmark is also ready to discuss visa restrictions for Russians, said Minister for Immigration and Integration Kore Dyubvad and Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kufud. "

On the other hand, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz considers it inappropriate to ban tourist visas to Russians.. And this means, but there will most likely not be a consensus on this issue at the next EU summits..