11 EU states target 478,000 Russian visas

Russian tourists are still reaching the beaches of the Riviera and the Spanish coast while Ukrainian cities are being hit by missiles. That contrast has become politically unbearable for a group of northern and eastern European states. On June 3rd, 11 Schengen countries wrote to the European Commission demanding binding limits on visas for Russian citizens, pointing to a gap in the EU sanctions system that Brussels has never properly closed.

The numbers behind the anger

Schengen countries issued 477,878 tourist visas to Russian citizens in 2025, almost 40% more than in 2023, the first full year of the war (EUobserver, GP). Three countries issued about three-quarters of them: France granted around 156,500, Italy 161,000, and Spain 123,000 (Euronews, Quotidiano.net).

The letter was signed by Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Iceland and Norway. It called it "deeply disturbing" that Russian tourists can take European holidays while "missiles and drones continue to hit civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine" (Euractiv).

Sweden's migration minister, Johan Forssell, was blunter. Russians "who support Russia's full-scale invasion should not be able to come to Europe and rest on beaches or sit drinking red wine at cozy outdoor cafés" (GP).

A system built to fragment

The weakness is in the design of Schengen itself. Each country decides at its own consulates who receives a visa. Once a Russian citizen has a valid French Schengen visa, however, they can move legally across 29 countries.

That has pushed some states into national fixes. Estonia banned Russian entry in August 2022 under its own border law (Riigi Teataja) and refuses Russians at the frontier regardless of which country issued the visa. Poland has taken a similar approach. These measures work at the border, but they are unilateral workarounds rather than a common EU rule.

The only collective lever now available is Article 25a of the Visa Code. It allows the Council, where national governments vote on EU law, to suspend visa benefits for a country. But the article was written for a different problem: cases where a state refuses to take back its own citizens who are in the EU illegally. It was not designed for war or security policy.

The one time it was used, against Ethiopia in 2024, the issue was readmission cooperation, not sanctions (Brussels Times). It also requires unanimity. France, Italy or Spain could stop it on their own.

The silent middle and the Mediterranean resistance

Germany did not sign the letter either, though it issued fewer than 24,000 Russian visas in 2025, a 90% fall from pre-war levels. Berlin's case, set out in the IPG Journal, is that a blanket ban would be "a gift to the Kremlin", reinforcing the propaganda line that "the West is directed not against the war, but against the Russian people" (IPG Journal). Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the late opposition leader, has made the same warning (Le Monde).

France, Italy and Spain have made no formal response to the letter. According to Le Monde, the issue "embarrasses" Paris. Diplomatic sources there argue that existing sanctions already block those on sanctions lists, and that students and opposition figures should not be punished (Le Monde).

Italy's position has been further weakened by the arrest of a former ambassador accused of selling Schengen visas to Russians for as much as €16,000 each (Difesa Online).

A promise deferred

The Commission's response came on June 5th through its spokesperson, Markus Lammert. Brussels promised "targeted restrictive visa measures" as part of a revision of the Visa Code expected in 2027, but gave no detail on the scope of the measure or how quickly it might pass (Euronews).

Even if the Commission produces the proposal on time, it would still have to pass through negotiations with the European Parliament, where MEPs have equal power to amend or reject the text. France and Italy could also weaken the measure at each stage.

The 11-country group wants binding rules before next summer. The Commission is offering a process for next year. Between those two timelines sits another holiday season, and possibly another half-million visas.

For the eastern flank, this is a moral and security failure. For the Mediterranean coast, it is also revenue. That is the contradiction the EU has left unresolved: sanctioning Russia with one hand while stamping tourist visas with the other. Until the Visa Code changes, there is no common mechanism to settle it.