EU considers granting visas to Russians, Belgium does not want total isolation
“Several countries, especially neighboring countries, have expressed the will to ban all visas for Russians,” said Minister Hadja Lahbib on her arrival at the informal meeting on Wednesday morning. In this discussion, Belgium will insist above all on the importance of a “common policy” for the 27, in order to avoid any risk of “visa-shopping” between countries, explained the new Minister of Foreign Affairs. She herself is not in favor of “total isolation of the Russian population”. It is better “to target the right people, those who will avoid this unjust war and those who try to escape the economic sanctions” adopted by the EU in reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she adds.
The other Russian citizens should be able to “express themselves freely and make us hear in Europe a voice other than that of the Moscow regime”.
Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Baltic countries have already greatly reduced visa possibilities for Russians, and want other countries to follow.
In fact, Belgium is already no longer in a position, according to Hadja Lahbib, to grant tourist visas, she tempers Wednesday. The reason is that “Moscow has expelled two thirds of our diplomatic staff there,” she says.
The Belgian position not to support a general visa ban follows that of Germany and France. Berlin and Paris are opposed to a total travel ban, fearing among other things a perverse effect of “gathering around the flag” on the Russian side, according to a “position paper” consulted by the DPA agency. German Minister Annalena Baerbock repeated it on Wednesday, also indicating that such a ban would have an impact on dissidents and journalists wishing to flee the regime.
The Belgians, on the other hand, are open to making the procedure for granting visas to Russians longer and more complicated.