Prime Minister of Finland Petteri Orpo called for a complete cessation of tourist visas for Russians in all countries of the European Union

The essence of the proposal is that Orpo announced his intention to bring this issue to the discussion at the upcoming meeting of the European Council.

As an argument, he called concerns about possible sabotage by Russia in Europe and questioned the safety of free movement of Russian tourists.

Visa data: According to the Finnish prime minister, last year the EU countries issued about 800,000 tourist visas to Russians, while Finland itself did not issue any.

Finland itself stopped issuing tourist visas to citizens of the Russian Federation in 2022, and in December 2023 completely closed the land border with Russia.

At the same time, there is no complete unity among the EU countries on this issue, Brussels previously noted that a general ban on tourist visas is not planned.

Border crossings at the border of the two countries remain closed. The Finnish hotel business also suffered losses.

Residents of Karelia now do not go en masse for coffee and faeries, swimming pool and ski resorts,