Baltic States have reached an agreement to severely limit entry to their territories for Russian citizens who hold Schengen visas, as reported by Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs.
At the same time, there will be several exceptions.
Decisions will be made by governments in accordance with their national procedures and will come to force simultaneously, said the minister.
On Tuesday, 6 September, European Commission presented a new visa issue order for Russian citizens.
EU member states agreed last week to halt the agreement regarding fast issue of visas to Russian citizens reached in 2007. This means visa requests from Russian citizens will take a longer time to be reviewed. Visas will also become more expensive.
European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson presented the new procedure, which EU member states plan to adopt in the coming days.
From now on visa requests in the Schengen Area, which consists of 22 EU member states, including Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Lichtenstein, will cost Russian citizens EUR 85.
Until now visas cost EUR 35.
The standard review time will be extended from ten to 15 days for visa requests from Russian citizens. In some cases reviews make take as long as 45 days. Countries will also limit opportunities to receive multiple-entry visas.
It will be necessary to submit more documents to justify visa requests.
Finland, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia have also started tightening border control. Countries also propose completely ceasing issuing tourism visas to Russian citizens.
France and Germany object to making such a step, claiming that it is necessary to maintain contact between Russian citizens and democratic communities.