Germany Seeks Schengen-Wide Curbs on Russian Visas

Berlin is pushing for uniform restrictions on Russian tourist visas across the Schengen area. EU officials are discussing the German proposal today as wide disparities between national visa policies leave an open route into almost all of Europe.

Russian tourist in front of a limousine at Brandenburg Gate.

Russian tourist in front of a stretch limousine at Brandenburg Gate. Photo: Thielker/ullstein bild via Getty Images

The European Union has cut Russian banks off from payment systems, frozen the assets of oligarchs and imposed 22 packages of sanctions on Moscow. Yet this hard line is barely visible in European capitals and tourist hotspots. Europe remains readily accessible to Russian tourists. In 2025 alone, Schengen countries issued more than 620,000 visas to Russian citizens, around 477,000 of them for tourism.

Germany now wants to close this loophole. Since Monday morning, the EU Council’s Visa Working Party and representatives of the four associated Schengen states have been discussing a German paper calling for a “uniform restrictive approach” to visas for Russian citizens. It does not yet propose an outright ban, but Berlin has formally put the issue on the European agenda for the first time.

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One Visa, 29 Countries

The problem stems from a central feature of the Schengen system. A short-stay visa issued by France, Italy or Spain generally allows its holder to travel throughout the 29 Schengen countries. Applicants are required to apply to the country that is the main destination of their trip. Once the visa has been issued, however, there are few ways to check where a visitor actually travels within the largely border-free area.

The alleged attack plot at Leipzig/Halle Airport shows how risky this arrangement can be. The Belarusian suspect, who also holds a Russian passport, is believed to have entered the Schengen area on a tourist visa issued by the Italian embassy in Minsk. According to German security sources, there is no indication that he ever visited Italy. He is under investigation on suspicion of preparing an explosives-laden drone attack on behalf of Russian operatives.

Countries bordering Russia have long taken a different approach. Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have largely stopped allowing Russian tourists to enter. The Czech Republic also issues almost no visas to Russian citizens, while Norway has generally denied them entry for tourism and other non-essential purposes since 2024. These restrictions lose much of their effectiveness, however, if a Russian applicant can obtain a visa from a more permissive consulate.

France issued almost 180,000 visas to Russians in 2025, Italy around 160,000 and Spain almost 100,000. Together, these three countries accounted for nearly three-quarters of all visas issued to Russian citizens. While eastern Schengen countries have effectively closed their borders, Italy has actually issued far more visas than it did in 2021.

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Germany Joins the Hardliners

Brussels has already tightened the rules once. The EU suspended its visa facilitation agreement with Russia in 2022. Since November 2025, Russian citizens have generally been issued only single-entry visas. Exceptions apply to certain groups, including dissidents, independent journalists, human rights activists and close relatives of EU citizens. There is still no general ban on tourist travel.

In June, 11 European countries called for binding restrictions. Alongside Poland and the Baltic states, the signatories included Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Germany was notably absent. Only after the Leipzig case did Berlin join the countries that view Russian tourism not merely as a moral issue but as a security risk.

A complete entry ban remains controversial. Russian opposition figures warn that blanket restrictions could also affect opponents of the regime. Moreover, Russian intelligence services are increasingly recruiting people who already live in Europe to carry out acts of sabotage and therefore need neither Russian citizenship nor a tourist visa.

That does not invalidate Berlin’s initiative. A visa is not a right and a common border area cannot function indefinitely with 29 different policies toward Russia. As long as a consulate in Rome, Paris or Madrid can decide who is subsequently free to travel on to Berlin, Warsaw or Tallinn, Europe’s hard line toward Moscow can end at the counter of a travel agency.