r/worldnews • u/TVP_World_News • 16h ago
Russia/Ukraine Finland, Estonia urge EU to suspend tourist visas for Russians. Several EU member states, including Italy and France, continue to issue tourist visas to Russians.
https://tvpworld.com/95922978/finland-estonia-urge-eu-wide-ban-on-russian-tourist-visas47
u/Exnummis 16h ago
This will change after the first mass casualty event. Mark my words.
37
u/apricot_bee67 16h ago edited 15h ago
We’re probably getting closer to that day by day. It might not even be intentional. The Russians are fucking with us while keeping a low profile, making our cheese rot in supermarket fridges and disrupting trains and critical infrastructure. For now. But one day, some gopnik from lower-Novosibirsk, after a few too many morning vodkas, will screw something up and cause a much bigger boom than intended.
13
u/Keh_veli 15h ago
Unfortunately it's not just Russian citizens, it's also other immigrants and even native suckers who they hire to do the dirty work.
-5
u/Authentic_Lost 8h ago
absolutely. just like Ukranian gopniks around the world do. with gas pipes, etc.
-1
u/Authentic_Lost 8h ago
like it happens in London or other God-forbidden EU capital every time after some unknown crazy dude drives all the way into the crowd on a tourist route. it ALL changes. aha.
12
u/Busy_slime 14h ago
I guess they buy so much Gucci and Vuitton... heck! I'm french and I support Finland and Estonia in this matter
19
11
u/Ok-Currency1593 16h ago
Just close your border to Russians now no need to wait for EU. Anyone shows up with a Russian passport, tell them to kick rocks and deport their ass
25
u/ZielonaKrowa 16h ago
Yeah no. If you land in France nobody is gonna stop you on your way all the way up to Finland. That’s how Schengen works.
-3
u/zulugulasz 8h ago
Then we need to reintroduce border checks. No other way. Russian passport = entry rejected. Simple.
13
u/shamantr 16h ago
So then they will need to introduce passport checks on intra-schengen flights and trains?
9
u/Blue_almonds 15h ago
they already do it
3
u/AschAschAsch 14h ago
They do, but they can't stop you from entering another country if your Schengen visa is ok.
2
u/Competitive-Hair7499 13h ago
Not that difficult, you need to enter your personal information when you buy the ticket. It's not hard to find the people you need to find if you want to.
2
2
9
u/romamik 15h ago
Disclaimer: I am Russian living in EU state.
I do not understand what this measure is trying to achieve. Secret agents will travel with fake documents, pose as citizens of other countries, etc. It will not stop them, or make it harder for them. If you want to punish Russians, then ones that are close to decision making, wealthy or have good connections, already have residence permits, citizenship etc in other countries, and one who apply for visas are middle class people who can afford to travel, but are nowhere near being elite. These are the most anti war, and you push them away.
Stop buying Russian fuel, sanction oligarchs (and not lift sanctions from Usmanov, which is just so mind blowing that it was done.)
Send weapons to Ukraine.
I feel that this is just populism.
17
u/QuantumBalloonDance 9h ago
Think of it from the other perspective. Why let your adversary visit your country? Russia is engaged in a sabotage, subversion, cyber warfare, etc against the rest of Europe. It just doesn't make sense to allow them to visit and if they do sneak in using fake documents they can at least be arrested for that if caught.
10
u/lowpixelcount 11h ago
The point is to create civil unrest, which hopefully pushes the people to fight the regime. That's always been the point of mass sanctions.
0
u/romamik 10h ago
Even if this is the goal. Is visa ban a right measure for this? It is like very low percent of the population ever visited foreign countries, and most of these only went to Turkey or Egypt once. You do not create mass civil unrest by applying measures to low percentage of the population. Basically this measure targets very specific group: ones who travel abroad, specifically to Europe, which became much harder lately, so a lot of people gave up, and ones who still try to, should like travelling specifically to Europe very much, and on the other hand, ones that cannot afford to buy a passport or residence permit. That is a small group of people, who already hate Putin very much and if it were in their hands he would be in Hague already.
0
11
u/lump77777 12h ago
Because the best way to stop Putin and his aggression is to turn to whole of his citizenry against him. Internet should be wiped out, trade should be completely frozen, gas lines should be made even longer, and Russian citizens shouldn’t be able to vacation in France.
1
u/romamik 11h ago
It is not the best way to stop Putin. It can theoretically work, but the chance is very low. Basically Putin don't gives a fuck about even his closest ally's opinions, and even more not about general public opionion. That's unfortunate but right now the state of things is that he can do what he wants and nobody can do anything about it.
The best way is to stop financing Putin. Not only stop buying Russian fuel, but prohibit to all other countries too, you have enough leverage to stop India from buying Russian fuel. Maybe less so about China, but press them too.
It is just banning tourist visas costs nothing (actually not, and this is why France and Spain do not want to) but real measures are costly and hard to implement, and also harder to explain to voters.
3
u/_WhatchaDoin_ 7h ago
It is currently already difficult to have family visits (especially with younger kids, 12-16 hours flights instead of 3 hours before). In some cases, we have to meet in some countries outside of Europe. Thinking that preventing these people visiting will somehow make them change the current geopolitical situation there is really silly.
6
u/AschAschAsch 14h ago
And populism works. Look how many upvotes and clicks it generates.
Eventually, Russians will be banned, but it won't solve much. Some people will sleep better at night. Others will find another thing that needs to be urgently banned.
2
u/Sure-Hold-1848 12h ago
Besides, there is alredy reports that russian intelligence switched to usage of local "agents" and criminal organizations. So, even if EU achieve 100% airtight ban (which won't happen), sabotage and diversions will continue.
2
u/thequehagan5 4h ago
The ultimate goal is change in Russia.
If Russians get to freely travel and enjoy the benefits of western democracies, while their own country is a brutal dictatorship, they are probably less inclined to enact change in Russia. They can just holiday in France of Italy for a few weeks to enjoy life in a free democracy.
If Russians all stay in Russia, especially the ones who yearn for a better life, there is a greater likelyhood they will to change gathers steam.
1
u/minai_ruo 14h ago
Populism as is. I think like 90% of oligarchy or people in power doesn't use travel visas, they are citizens of EU, Israel or US
-3
u/iskela45 11h ago edited 8h ago
Have more Russians be basically locked into Russia (or at least locked out of a huge chunk of the developed world) to hopefully let Russia turn into more of a pressure cooker. They can apply for tourist visas when their government stops committing a genocide. Almost nothing should be off the table for sanctioning any and all functioning of Russia until they get sent back to the 1990s/fuck off from occupied territories, return kidnapped children, and cough up reparations.
I'd also support banning tourist visas for Israelis for the same reason. (edit: for the dumdums out there, this part is obviously referring to Israel's genocide in Palestine)
2
u/Authentic_Lost 8h ago
apart from all the clinical brainwashed nonsense which I will not comment on, I still can't pass on the last sentence... yeah, because it's Jews from Tel-Aviv ruin the world, right!!! 🤣🤣🤣
-1
u/Fresh-Coffee-8591 5h ago
Russian middle class on tourist visa can potentially overstay, and Mr Putin is known to come "save" people he deemed "Russian citizens" via act of war onto sovereign countries. In other words, EU does not want to mess with idiots.
0
2
u/tpe91roc 9h ago
Bear in mind that technically these countries would and should apply their discretion at the border. The fact that the visa is on the passport doesn’t mean they qualify for entry. If Finland doesn’t see the tourist as a true tourist and as a concern it can reject it at the border and should do so.
•
u/FlatwormAltruistic 1h ago
If tourist comes through Europe to Finland, then there isn't much to block, it's not like there are border control from one EU country to another.
Blocking visas would lower amount of those who enter through 3rd country to the EU l.
2
u/Bonamikengue 8h ago
TToo many countries still bootlicking to Putin - the US is part of them now, too.
It seems everyone is still keen on getting that oligarch money.
2
u/PuzzleheadedPen4675 5h ago
I agree. Peeps better understand Putin and the Russian mafia/oligarchy have declared war on the West- and knowingly not saying it out loud.
•
1
u/Prestigious-Food-420 15h ago
Nobody is going to stop issuing the visas because they know how much the oligarchs spend when they come over.
Hotels, restaurants, luxury goods, even high-street brands, they all benefit. Not to mention the tax collected by the state from the businesses, and the sales tax.
ALL of the European economies are struggling at the moment. They can’t afford to not get that income.
Follow the money and you will get your answer.
3
4
u/Rincetron1 14h ago
Russia's portion of intra-European visits are 3% in 2025. 17 million visits to any European countries, 3 million to EU.
Numbers vary, obviously. But one oligarch doesn't nudge the needle in the big picture. Rough estimate is that they spent 3 billion € in Europe, in 2025.
What I'm getting at is that it's not nothing, but we shouldn't pretend whole economies sink or swim on Russian tourism. As European I wouldn't be opposed to recouping collectively the money lost on tourism,
6
u/Competitive-Hair7499 13h ago
What I'm getting at is that it's not nothing
I mean it's pretty close. For example. In 2025 just the British tourists spent €23.65 billion in Spain alone.
9
u/Webbanditten 14h ago
What are you talking about? Recent Eurostat shows the Eurozone economy grew 0.6% in the second quarter of 2026 making it the strongest quarterly growth since mid-2022. The premise that "nobody is going to stop issuing visas" because they need the money is also factually incorrect, as several countries already have. Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic states halted or severely restricted tourist visas for Russian citizens following the 2022 invasion, prioritizing regional security and political stances over tourism revenue.
-3
u/Prestigious-Food-420 11h ago
Oh wow, 0.6%! And that number isn’t wildly inflated by the millions of government jobs created across the eurozone?
Europe as a whole is a service economy. Overgrown government, and consumer services accounting for the bulk of that. Hence tourism is vital for the countries.
1
1
u/SuperSpaceSloth 14h ago
Oligarchs have EU passports anyway. Don't worry about them, they're gonna be fine.
1
u/Competitive-Hair7499 13h ago
Seriously, it's a 2 trillion (if that) economy in the middle of a war. You can make the argument about natural resources, but surely, tourism from one rather average economy should not be a deciding factor at all.
0
u/thehippieswereright 12h ago
this is likely true when talking about london and how it has become home to foreign oligarchs from some of the worst parts of the world. it is not true for the entirety of the EU
1
u/Authentic_Lost 8h ago
London has been home to oligarchs since that word didn't even exist. Read history about how the BE was raised. Pirating over the colonies. Heh.
1
u/thehippieswereright 8h ago
I'd love a link, if you have one. I lived in london in the late eighties, my impression was of a city with more room for ordinary people.
1
2
1
u/No_Brother1599 4h ago
What good will suspending tourist visas do? If they are worried about spies or whatever, I'm sure there are enough ways to get into Europe without a tourist visa that suspending them won't have any effect other than making it more difficult for honest families to see each other.
-1
234
u/Jhonnow 16h ago
I will never understand why this for the whole EU was not done 5 yrs ago !!