Poland intends to finally prohibit the issuance of visas to the Russians - the Foreign Ministry of the Country
According to the diplomat, Poland advocates for the continuation of the sanctions of the European Union against the aggressor country, especially for the suspension of the Visa Movement Agreement for Citizens of the Russian Federation. At the same time, Vavzhik emphasizes that not all EU member states agree with such measures. "Great member states, including Germany, France and the Netherlands, oppose this.
Due to the fact that it is impossible to overcome the resistance of these countries to terminate the Visa Movement Agreement for Russian citizens, Poland is working on a new decision,"-commented Foreign Ministry Representative. According to Vuzhik, Polish diplomats have been negotiating with other EU countries for several weeks, including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which have a similar position.
"The Czech Foreign Minister, which is currently presiding in the European Union, wants to discuss the general suspension of visas for Russian citizens at the EU Foreign Ministers, which will take place in Prague at the end of the month," Vazhik added. The deputy head of the Foreign Ministry of Poland, among other things, positively evaluated the decisions made by Latvia and Estonia to suspend or limit the issuance of visas to citizens of the aggressor country.
However, he noted that the states went to these measures too late - just a few months after the start of a full -scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The diplomat recalled that Poland has not issued tourist visas to the Russians for several months. At present, only those aggressor citizens who cross the Polish-Russian border through work, the Russians with the Pole Card, as well as members of families of Poland and other EU countries can be obtained.
Recall that the EU discusses the introduction of a ban on the issuance of Schengen visas to the Russians. The issue of closing the Schengen zone for the citizens of the aggressor country for discussion has taken up several EU countries at once. In Estonia, they decided not to wait for a pan -European decision and banned entry into the country for Russians since August 18. The decision does not affect Russian diplomats and their families, as well as international trade workers.