Russia Rejects Visa Tit-For-Tat with Europe — MFA
Moscow Kremlin. Spasskaya Tower
European countries are only hurting themselves by imposing visa restrictions on Russian tourists, Artem Studennikov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s First European Department, tells Sputnik.Russia does not see any need to tighten visa requirements for ordinary European citizens in a retaliatory move, says the diplomat.“If the Europeans are so keen on continuing to shoot themselves in the foot by restricting tourist flows from Russia and banning European travel agencies from working with the Russian market, that is their choice. We leave to their conscience the attempts to erect a new ‘Iron Curtain’ in Europe,” he says.In a situation where the authorities of European countries are scaring their own populations with a nonexistent «Russian threat,» it is «important to preserve people-to-people contacts and cultural and humanitarian ties,” Studennikov notes.He also urges Russians planning trips to “unfriendly” European states to exercise caution, citing a growing number of provocations and incidents involving Russian citizens and advising travellers to check the Russian Foreign Ministry’s country-specific recommendations before departure.In November 2025, the European Commission announced restrictions on the issuance of multiple-entry Schengen visas to Russian citizens. Russians must now apply for a separate visa for each trip.The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly described the European Union’s tightening of Schengen visa rules for Russians as discrimination on the basis of nationality and an example of Brussels’ hypocrisy.
AnalysisSuspension of EU-Russia Visa Agreement ‘Strikes an Entire People Indiscriminately’, Observer Says31 August 2022, 19:03 GMT
