Baltic states agree to limit entry of Russian citizens with Schengen visas
On September 7, 2022, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs announced that Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia have reached an agreement on significant border crossing restrictions for citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus with Schengen visas.
The ban has yet to be officially announced, but will be in the near future. Rulings will be taken by national governments and will come into force simultaneously.
Exceptions to the ban will be made for truck drivers, diplomats, and citizens entering for family and humanitarian reasons.
At the same time, the Finnish Foreign Ministry announced that they would not limit the entry of Russian tourists until the decision of the European Commission.
In late August, the foreign ministers of the European Union agreed to cancel an agreement on simplified visa issuance to Russian citizens in response to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, they were unable to agree on a complete visa ban for Russians, which the countries bordering Russia had sought.
