EU foreign ministers are expected to suspend the issuance of Russian tourist visas | Russia
EU foreign ministers are expected to agree to suspend the EU’s visa facilitation agreement with Moscow next week after Russian rocket and artillery strikes from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant across the Dnieper River.
The EU measure, which aims to reduce the number of visas granted to Russian citizens after pressure from eastern member states, falls short of an outright ban, but would make obtaining travel documents significantly more complicated and expensive.
The Financial Times quoted One EU official said it was “inappropriate for Russian tourists to walk in our cities” and the bloc needed to “send a signal to the Russian population that this war is not OK, it is not acceptable”.
Another told the paper that before the end of the year, the bloc would go beyond ending the deal, which would remove the current preferential treatment for Russian citizens when they apply for EU visas.
The bloc’s foreign ministers will meet on Tuesday in the Czech capital of the EU’s rotating presidency, Prague, where they are expected to give their political support for the suspension.
But the bloc is far from united in increasingly vocal calls for the EU from countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – many of which have stopped issuing visas to Russians for all but essential travel. – a broad ban on Russian tourists.
Many other member states still issue travel documents to Russian citizens, meaning they can travel freely throughout the Schengen passport-free zone.
Finland, which has said that the Russians are increasingly avoiding the closure of EU airspace by using Helsinki Airport as a gateway to the zone, announced this month that it would limit Russian visa applications to one-tenth of the current number.
But countries such as Germany have argued that an outright ban would be misguided, with EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell saying the ban was “not a good idea”. The bloc “needs to be more selective,” Borrell said last week.
In the ground UkraineRussian artillery shelled towns across the Dnieper from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, officials said on Sunday, amid mounting concerns of a possible radiation disaster.
Both sides have accused each other of targeting the facility, which was captured by Russian forces in March but is still run by Ukrainian personnel and has become a major focal point of the conflict, which is now in its seventh month.
Regional governor Oleksandr Starukh said on Telegram that Russian forces had hit residential buildings in the regional capital Zaporizhzhia, a two-hour drive from the facility, while the Ukrainian military command said towns on the opposite bank of the Dnieper had been hit. of the plant.
According to Moscow, nine Ukrainian artillery pieces had landed in the area of the power plant, technical personnel were monitoring the condition of the area and radiation levels remained normal. None of the reports could be confirmed.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Russia has turned the factory into a military base and is endangering the entire continent. Both the UN and Kyiv have demanded the withdrawal of military equipment and personnel from the facility, to which the UN nuclear power plant is awaiting an inspection visit.
In eastern Ukraine, where Russian and separatist forces are fighting for control, shelling hit the strategically important cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, but no casualties were reported, Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
Defenders thwarted Russian breakthrough attempts around the strategic town of Bakhmut, Ukraine’s armed forces said.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in its latest press conference that Russia had lost “tens of thousands” of troops and it was not clear how more would be recruited.
A decree signed by Vladimir Putin to increase the size of the armed forces from 1.9 meters to 2.04 meters is unlikely to contribute to “significant progress” in increasing Russia’s combat power, according to a report.
Reuters contributed to this report