Russian entry banned: in Europe came up with visas without the right to travel

Maybe we should supply every Russian tourist with an electronic bracelet? Or do you have to install an app on your phone that, as you approach the German border, starts screaming, “Citizen of Russia, immediately return to France!”?

It could be easier. Issuance of special identification marks to the Russians so that the European police do not have to look at the passport every time.

It is especially sad that such fantasies arise on a continent where people like to talk about freedom and democracy.

However, the legal possibility of issuing visas with limited territory already exists. Such documents are provided for by the EU Visa Code. However, while they are considered as an exception, not a universal punishment for citizenship. In the documents of the EU Council on October 14, there is a discussion of issuing such visas to Russians for optional trips.

But it is one thing to write a restriction on a visa sticker, and quite another to make it work.

- The introduction of Schengen visas for Russians, valid only on the territory of one state, is legally possible, but the practical enforcement of such a restriction raises serious questions, explains human rights activist Maria Arkhipova.

According to her, the main obstacle is the organization of the Schengen zone, within which there is no systematic border control.

A person who has obtained a visa for France can physically move to Germany, Spain or Italy by road, rail or air without passing passport control. However, in the presence of a visa with a limited territory of validity, such movement without other legal grounds will be a violation of the visa regime.

On domestic flights, carriers usually check documents to establish the identity of the passenger, but such a check does not amount to full border control. On the roads, no one is interested in travelers’ passports. Although spot checks and temporarily reinstated border controls in Schengen are in principle envisaged.

Are European officials hoping for digital technology? There are VIS and EES systems. The first contains information about visas, the second is intended for registration of crossings of external borders.

- None of them provides continuous tracking of human movements between European states, says Maria Arkhipova.

It is possible to find out that the Russian entered France. But to find out that he went to Munich to drink beer the next day is much more difficult.

Of course, it is possible to restore border control on all roads, railway routes and domestic flights. But then, for the sake of a few Russian tourists, we will have to overhaul the system that Europeans have been building for decades.

There is also a more economical option: put a border guard at every German beer bar. French winemakers may be offended.

States can conduct random police checks, use passenger data in cases provided for by law, and temporarily restore border control. Thus, it is possible to identify individual violations, but it is impossible to guarantee compliance with the territorial restrictions of each visa under the existing organization of the Schengen area.

The question remains whether it is legitimate to turn an exclusive visa mechanism into a mass practice for citizens of one country. As Arkhipova notes, this will require an independent legal justification.

Of course, Europe has the right to set rules for entering its territory. But when restrictions begin to be determined primarily by the passport and not by the actions of a particular person, the question of collective responsibility inevitably arises.

The very idea of dividing people into “right” and “wrong” on a national basis, which is now being discussed as a practical administrative task, looks monstrous.

It remains to figure out how to make the "wrong" more visible on the horizon. And don’t forget to call it “the defense of European values.”.