Page 28 - RusRPTSept22

government and do not fight it, do not argue with it, do not shout at it,” Zelensky said.
In a daily video message on Friday, Zelensky clarified that he was referring to tourist and work visas, but that those Russians who are persecuted in their homeland should receive help “through refugees, through asylum requests.”
Secondly, the Baltic countries have moved from statements to real steps towards tightening the visa regime. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia stopped issuing new tourist visas to Russians in late February and early March. In mid August, Estonia has moved to a new level - the country's government announced that from August 18 it will close entry for Russian citizens with Schengen visas issued by Estonia itself (with a number of diplomatic, labour and humanitarian exceptions). People with Schengen visas issued by other countries will not be affected by this decision: the Estonian authorities have not yet figured out how to extend the ban to them, but promised to discuss this issue.
That is why Estonia and its neighbours insist on a pan-European ban on issuing visas to Russians - without it, national bans do not make much sense due to the lack of borders within the Schengen and the obligation of mutual recognition of visas by countries participating in the agreement. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has proposed banning Russian tourists from entering Europe. She was supported by Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevich. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin spoke a little more carefully - she proposed "limiting" the issuance of tourist visas to Russians.
At the suggestion of Estonia, the issue of a pan-European ban will be discussed on August 31 at an informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU member states in Prague. According to FT sources, the issue will be officially included in the agenda of the next EU summit, which will be held in October.
Baltic politicians justify their calls with several considerations. First, “travelling to Europe is not a right, but a privilege” (this is the same wording used by both Kallas and Rinkevich), which should become inaccessible under the conditions of Russian aggression. Second, as Rinkevich wrote, the visa ban should make the general public feel the brunt of the sanctions—one of the steps to help stop Russia. Thirdly, the Baltic countries and Finland, which have a land border with Russia, are unhappy that the Russians, after the ban on air travel with Europe, have become transit countries for Russians, from which they can fly to other European destinations.
Legally, the introduction of a pan-European ban on the issuance of tourist visas to Russians can be formalised in two ways, says Vitaly Slepak, senior lawyer at Pen & Paper. Firstly, this decision can be included in the next sanctions package, the approval of which always requires the unanimous approval of all 26 EU member states. The second option is to amend the Schengen Borders Code and the Schengen Visa Code. For this, only 55% of the votes of the states in which 65% of the population lives will be enough. At the same time, in both cases, the EU will have to separately negotiate similar sanctions with three countries that are not members of the European Union, but are members
28 RUSSIA Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com