Russia does not rule out the possibility of suspending the issuance of Schengen visas to its citizens against the backdrop of worsening relations with Europe. This was announced by the director of the consular department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Ivan Volynkin.

According to the head of the department, calls have become more frequent in Europe to stop issuing Schengen visas to Russian citizens. At the same time, he added that the consulates of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic and Estonia have actually completely suspended the issuance of visas to Russians.

Volynkin does not rule out the termination of the issuance of Schengen to Russian citizens, despite the fact that this seems to be an "incredible scenario." In this case, Moscow will build "visa cooperation on a bilateral basis with individual negotiable European countries."

On July 25, Finland 's leading parliamentary parties called for stopping the issuance of tourist visas to Russians because of the war in Ukraine. The proposal was joined by the Social Democratic Party of Finland, the National Coalition Party, the True Finns and the Finnish Center Party. At the same time, the ban "will not apply to medical treatment, to persons owning real estate in Finland, as well as to visiting close relatives." However, shortly thereafter, Deputy Prime Minister Tytti Tuppurainen said that at the moment the country does not intend to stop issuing Schengen tourist visas to Russian citizens. Such a decision can only be made at the level of the European Union and the Schengen countries.

In this regard, on July 26, the Estonian Foreign Ministry announced the preparation of a proposal to the European Union to ban the issuance of Schengen visas to Russians. Minister Urmas Reinsalu considers it morally wrong that "Russian citizens are now traveling en masse across the western border of Russia - through Finland, Latvia, Lithuania - to visit the Louvre in the summer, while children are being killed in Ukraine." At the same time, he noted that there are humanitarian cases when obtaining a visa, citing Alexei Navalny's associates as an example, for whom the issue should be considered separately.

In turn, the permanent representative of Ukraine to the EU Oleksiy Makeev suggested introducing a mandatory form in the visa application form for Russians, which would ask about their attitude to the war in Ukraine. According to him, Russians who support the war should not have access to the free world.