Zakharova: Russia Will Not Restrict Entry or Close Borders for EU Citizens

Russia will in no way restrict entry or close borders to citizens of EU countries. This was stated at a briefing by Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, TASS reports.

“At our side, we do not plan to close borders for European citizens or restrict their entry by any measures—be they political or otherwise. We believe that human contacts—tourism, business, and humanitarian ties—should be maintained. Our country is interested in building bridges between people, despite all efforts within the EU to destroy these bridges, which they very much want to do. But this is not part of our plans,” the diplomat said.

Zakharova described the ideas within the EU to introduce restrictive measures in the visa sector as “another example of hypocrisy, double standards, and most importantly, a lack of respect for the law.”

Earlier, the German newspaper Handelsblatt, citing sources within the European Union, reported that the European Commission, as part of a new sanctions package against Russia, aims to complicate the issuance of visas to Russian citizens.

The publication noted that in 2024, EU member states issued over 600,000 Schengen visas to Russians. The European Commission intends to establish unified rules and ensure that all EU member countries limit the issuance of Schengen visas to Russian citizens to the same extent.

In 2024, the countries that issued the most visas to Russian citizens were Italy (over 152,000), France (123,890), Spain (111,537), and Greece (59,703).