Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin no longer intends to welcome Russian tourists and she does not take the tweezers to say it: “It is not normal that Russian citizens can enter Europe, the Schengen area, be tourists (…) while Russia is killing people in Ukraine.”
Finland is an important entry point for the Russians: the two countries share 1,300 kilometers of border. The government announced this week that it would reduce the total number of visas granted to Russians by 10%, starting September 1. Currently, the country receives nearly 1,000 Russian requests per day.
A pure and simple ban on visas based on nationality is not possible in Europe. Finland has therefore found several alternatives. Already, it will reduce the opening hours of the office that deals with visa applications. Mathematically, there will be less. Then, the requests will be treated by priority and a humanitarian visa will be created – it does not exist for the moment in Finland. At the top of the pile, journalists or NGOs threatened by the Putin regime, for example.
Helsinki will also campaign in Brussels to get Russia out of the visa facilitation agreement. These facilitative provisions no longer apply since February to Russian diplomats, officials and business leaders, senior politicians and oligarchs who are subject to European sanctions. This will lead to an increase in the price of sesame from 35 to 80 euros.
Finally, Finland started a psychological war. Since the end of July, some cities that welcome Russian tourists have been broadcasting the Ukrainian anthem once a day.
VIDEO: A crowd of people gathers in the Eastern Finnish city of Imatra on a bridge overlooking Imatrankoski rapids. At the same time every day, the river’s almost century-old dam is opened and water rushes under the bridge, to the sound of music. pic.twitter.com/f4koxLMtST
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 17, 2022
We are talking here about visas for Russian “tourists” because the Russian oligarchs, close to Putin, are for the most part under European sanctions and can theoretically no longer come to the territory. Theoretically because according to Navalny, the main opponent of the regime, only 46 of the 200 richest Russians are currently subject to sanctions.
For now, several European countries are calling for a ban on the issuance of Russian visas for the Schengen area, including Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
Stop issuing tourist visas to Russians. Visiting #Europe is a privilege, not a human right. Air travel from UK is shut down. It means while Schengen countries issue visas, neighbors to Russia carry the burden (FI, EE, LV – sole access points). Time to end tourism from Russia now
— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) August 9, 2022
On the other hand, the European Commission is reluctant. She believes that this would prevent protecting Russian dissidents who try to leave the country. The Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union wants a debate between the 27 by the end of the month. The decision must be taken unanimously.
>> Russian tourists banned from tourist sites in France?
Ukraine has been pushing for this ban since the start of the war, President Zelensky reiterated this in an interview with the Washington Post: “I said from the start that I thought the most important sanctions were closing the borders, because they encroach on someone else’s territory. Well, let them live in their own world. until they change their philosophy.”
For Jean de Gliniasty, director of research at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris) interviewed by franceinfo, a total ban on visas for Russians would be unproductive. “It would strengthen solidarity around Putin”explains the expert. “Traveling Russians are 40% of the population, and they are the most enlightened part, the most open to Western influences, the most eager to keep in touch with Europeans. It is with this part of Russia that we we’ll have to build relationships later”when the war is over.
In the long term, this solution therefore does not appear to be the best. Especially since many Russian tourists go to Italy or Spain. Banning them from the Shengen space would be a big sacrifice for countries that rely on tourism to ease the crisis.