The EU is curtailing the issuance of multiple-entry visas to Russians and Trump’s first reaction to Putin’s performance. The main thing by Thursday morning

Main event. The European Union is preparing to end the practice of issuing multiple-entry Schengen visas to Russians, Politico reported , citing three European officials.

1️⃣ Facts. The new rules are expected to be officially approved and put into effect this week, Politico writes.

• If this happens, Russians will be able to obtain, in most cases, only single-entry visas. An exception will be made for situations related to humanitarian reasons or the applicant’s citizenship of one of the EU countries, the publication says.

• Next month, according to the publication, the European Commission intends to present a new pan-European visa strategy. The document will set out general recommendations, including calling on member countries to make greater use of visa policies against hostile states.

• As part of the next update of sanctions, the European Union also plans to limit the movement of Russian diplomats: they will have to notify states in advance about traveling within the Schengen zone.

2️⃣Multi-year course for tightening. The EU began to review its policy when issuing visas to Russians from the first year of the war. In September 2022, the bloc suspended the agreement on a simplified visa regime with Russia.

• Some countries, such as the Baltic states, Poland and the Czech Republic, have completely stopped issuing visas to Russians to enter the Schengen area for tourism, cultural, sports or business purposes. They also banned entry on such visas, including those issued by other countries.

• Countries bordering Russia have been calling for EU-wide restrictions on visas for Russians for several years, two European diplomats told Politico in September.

• Before the introduction of the 19th package of sanctions, these restrictions began to be seriously discussed at the level of the entire bloc. As the Italian agency ANSA wrote , the European Commission proposed to give more stringent recommendations as part of the new sanctions package. And Germany called on Brussels to fully implement the 2022 recommendations of the European Commission.

3️⃣ Russians began to travel to Europe more often. The discussion of visa restrictions is taking place against the backdrop of an increase in the number of trips by Russians to Europe. According to the European Commission, in 2024, Russian citizens received more than half a million Schengen visas - significantly more than in 2023. However, this figure is still significantly lower than the pre-war level - over 4 million visas were issued in 2019. Among the countries that actively continue to issue visas are Hungary, France, Spain and Italy.

4️⃣ Discussion. Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation spoke out against tightening the visa regime for Russians. In September, he called on the EU to distinguish between the responsibilities of Russian authorities and ordinary Russians. “Sanctions should be directed against oligarchs, security officials, propagandists and other supporters of the regime, and not against ordinary citizens,” said Yulia Navalnaya.

• But judging by the Politico publication, a different approach is winning, aimed at continuing to build a new Iron Curtain between Europe and the EU.

Other news:

• Trump's reaction to Putin's performance. Donald Trump made several statements after a carefully choreographed meeting of the Russian Security Council on Wednesday, at which Vladimir Putin ordered “to make proposals on the possible start of work on preparing a nuclear weapons test.” A video of Trump’s speech appeared on the Truth Social social network, in which he recalls that “in connection with testing in other countries, he instructed the War Department to begin testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis.” But speaking at a business forum in Miami, the president said that “we may be working on a plan for nuclear disarmament” with Russia and China. So far, these statements do not make it possible to understand whether the Kremlin’s strategy, aimed at, as Russian expert Vladimir Frolov writes , “using Trump’s language, imposing the imperative of direct interaction between the United States and Russia” without ending the war in Ukraine.

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