On an otherwise gloomy Wednesday, I was cheered by the news that my native Sweden is spearheading a campaign to tighten visa restrictions for Russians seeking entry to the Schengen Area.
In a letter to foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner, ministers from 11 countries — the Nordics and Baltics, Poland, Czechia, and the Netherlands — urged the European Commission to roll out binding visa rules for Russian citizens.
While the EU issued guidance for visa handling in 2022, implementation has been patchy. As the letter notes, Schengen states issued nearly half a million tourist visas to Russian citizens in 2025 alone.
"It has been deeply troubling to witness increasing numbers of Russian tourists enjoying leisure travel on European beaches and in European resorts while missiles and drones continue to strike civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine," the letter states.
The message was also echoed at Thursday’s meeting of interior ministers in Luxembourg.
“I want there to be no more shopping weekends. I want there to be no more fancy trips to Europe while Ukrainians are dying on the battlefield,” Sweden’s migration minister, Johan Forssell, told reporters.
But some still do.
Diplomats from countries that didn’t sign the letter have reportedly argued that exposure to free and open European societies benefits Russians living under an increasingly authoritarian regime, and that restricting access to Schengen risks reinforcing the Kremlin's claim that the EU is hostile to ordinary Russians.
But the narrative EU capitals should worry more about is their own. Allowing hundreds of thousands of Russian tourists to vacation across Europe makes a mockery of the bloc's advertised commitment to Ukraine. And if some Russians return home with a more favorable view of Europe, it hardly makes up for the muddled political signal, the eased pressure on Moscow and the security risks.
Since launching its invasion in 2022, Russia has planned or carried out at least 151 hostile operations across Europe as of February 2026 — ranging from sabotage to assassination attempts — according to a report by the Netherlands-based International Center for Counter-Terrorism.
More likely, the continued generous welcome of some member states is less about principle than simple geography. The countries with the strictest visa measures are in the East, such as Estonia, Latvia and Poland. By contrast France, Italy and Spain have issued the highest number of visas to Russian citizens since the war began.
A Schengen-wide tourist visa ban won’t decide the war, but it is low-hanging fruit. It carries little cost and strengthens pressure on Russia. As Moscow faces growing military and economic challenges, the EU should be looking for ways to increase that pressure — not relieve it.
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