The European Commission is likely to adopt updated, stricter rules on Russians’ entry to the EU as early as Friday, 7 November. This was unofficially reported by an EU official, who was not authorised to comment to the media.
The new rules from the European Commission will be binding and will come into force immediately, as they have been previously discussed with diplomats of the EU member states and received sufficient support, the official said.
The restrictions will apply to the issuance of multi-visas, which allow multiple entries for Russians. European Commission Speaker Markus Lamert confirmed when asked by Radio Liberty that the European Commission was preparing “additional measures in close coordination with member states,” but declined to go into details.
He also explained that visa issuance in general is the competence of member states, but the European Commission can, “if necessary, adopt more favourable or more restrictive rules on issuing, for example, multiple-entry visas, to which all Schengen consulates must adhere.”
In such situations, he said, country-specific migration and security risks are always taken into account.
In 2022, the EU had already made issuing multi-visas more difficult to some extent, but only for certain categories of Russians. “Our joint actions have already led to a significant reduction in the number of Schengen visas issued to Russian citizens – from more than 4 million in 2019 to 500 thousand in 2023”, – said Markus Lamert.
The day before, Politico reported that the EU was preparing to further tighten visa rules for Russian citizens, effectively halting the issuance of multiple-entry Schengen visas in most cases.
Brussels has already made it harder for Russians to obtain visas by suspending a visa facilitation agreement with Moscow at the end of 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.