Eleven Schengen nations have called for further visa restrictions on Russian tourists whilst the war in Ukraine rages on, a measure directed largely at Spain given that it continues to welcome tens of thousands of visitors from Russia every year.
A group of European countries has called on the EU to make it harder for Russians to holiday in Europe as the war in Ukraine grinds through a fifth year.
The proposal comes after European Commission data shows that Spain issued more than 111,000 Schengen visas to Russian citizens in 2025, making it the third largest issuer of these documents in the European Union after France and Italy.
Stats from Spain’s Migration Ministry reflect a slight decrease in 2025 for short-stay visas granted by Spanish authorities to Russian nationals: 96,742 in total, with the average age of the visa holder being 37 and in 60 percent of cases women.
The vast majority of these permits were for short stays for tourism and business purposes.
EU interior ministers are now discussing the issue, raised at a meeting in Luxembourg Thursday after a letter signed by Poland, Norway, the Baltic states, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark and Iceland.
Together they’ve criticised the practice of “visa shopping” by Russian holidaymakers.
“It has been deeply troubling to witness increasing numbers of Russian tourists enjoying leisure travel on European beaches and in European resorts while missiles and drones continue to strike civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine,” read the letter seen by AFP.
The bloc has suspended its visa facilitation agreement with Russia and last November moved to deny Russians multi-entry visas.
The number of visas issued to Russians has dropped sharply from more than four million before the war to about half a million in 2024.
Hawkish EU countries argue that is not enough and complain about an uneven application of the current rules across the bloc.
More than 470,000 tourist Schengen visas were issued to Russian citizens in 2025, many multi-entry, according to the letter.
“I want there to be no more shopping weekends. I want there to be no more fancy trips to Europe while Ukrainians are dying on the battlefield,” Sweden’s migration minister Johan Forssell told reporters arriving at the Luxembourg talks.
“This situation is completely insane and it needs to be stopped.”
Spain, together with France and Italy, are among the countries that issue the most visas.
European Commission stat show that in 2024 Spanish consulates issued 111,187 short-stay Schengen visas to Russian nationals in 2024—behind only France (148,300) and Italy (126,900).
In 2019, before the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic, 1.3 million Russian tourists visited, a market highly valued for its high average spending, which at that time exceeded €1,500.
Spain’s ongoing welcoming approach contrasts with that of other member states, many of which have imposed virtually a total blockade on Russian holidaymakers.
This latest proposal letter dated June 2nd calls for “new restrictive and binding visa measures”, arguing that easy access to Europe also poses security risks, amid fears the Kremlin aims to destabilise the bloc through hybrid attacks.
Better measures were needed to identify Russians who fought in Ukraine and prevent them from entering Europe, the signatories wrote.
While proponents argue ordinary Russians should feel more impact from the war, other EU nations say it would be wrong to use visa restrictions as a blanket punitive measure.
Travel to Europe also helps expose Russians captive to a tightly controlled media environment at home to different narratives and ideas, argue some EU diplomats.
Russian opposition figurehead Yulia Navalnaya said in September that broad restrictions would be a “serious mistake” as they would feed the Kremlin’s narrative that Europe is hostile to all Russians.
With additional reporting by The Local Spain’s editor Alex Dunham
