VIENNA, August 25. /TASS/. Austria is skeptical about a proposal to freeze visa issuance to Russians and believes the move would be counterproductive, the country’s Foreign Ministry stated, according to the Austria Press Agency.
"With a complete halt in issuing visas, it will probably be hardly possible to maintain the remaining contacts with Russian civil society. That would mean the entry into the EU would be closed not only to Russian civil society and opposition members, but also, for example, to relatives of Austrians," the ministry said, the Austria Press Agency reported.
The ministry said the sanctions adopted by the EU are directed against 1,200 individuals and 110 entities, as well as some sectors of the Russian economy. These measures "significantly pinpoint those responsible for the war," the ministry said.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said in an August 9 interview with the Washington Post that Western countries should ban all Russians from entering their territory, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba later on Twitter called on all EU and Group of Seven countries to stop issuing visas to Russians.
This idea was supported by some European countries, including the Baltic states and the Czech Republic. A diplomatic source in Brussels told TASS that EU foreign ministers will look into proposals from the Baltic states and Finland on banning Schengen visas to Russians when they convene for an informal meeting in Prague on August 30-31. Later, this information was confirmed by the European Commission. The source also explained that since the Schengen visa code does not provide for a complete ban on visas to nationals of certain countries, the backers of this proposal have two options: to begin revising the Schengen rules, which can turn into a lengthy and problematic procedure, or to reach an agreement between some EU countries on restricting the issuance of visas to certain categories of Russian citizens. Most of the southern and western EU countries oppose this initiative.