What happened

Leaders of eight countries — Germany, Poland, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland and Sweden — sent a joint letter to the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission proposing the introduction of targeted visa restrictions for Russian citizens who took part in the war against Ukraine. The initiative has already been covered by leading Western media, including Politico and DW.

Why it matters

The letter argues that people involved in armed aggression pose a serious threat to the EU's internal security — because of the risks of serious crimes, activity by organized crime networks, extremist groups and instrumentalization within hybrid operations. This is not only a matter of morality: it is about concrete security logic — how to cut off potential threats at the Schengen borders.

"Persons who participated in the war as part of the armed forces of the aggressor state constitute a serious threat to internal security..."

— Joint letter from the heads of state and government of Germany, Poland, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland and Sweden

Numbers and context

Key facts reinforce the argument: according to the appeal, more than 180 000 people were sent to the war from Russian prisons and colonies. At the same time, the tourism industry estimates that in 2025 Russian citizens filed around 620–670 thousand applications for Schengen visas, and approximately 4 out of 5 applicants received a visa. In other words, the scale of the flow is significant, and any vulnerable cases could have systemic consequences for member states.

Reactions and local initiatives

Estonia already proposed a general ban on entry for those who took part in the war at the beginning of 2026. Ukraine's foreign minister Andriy Sybiha openly supported the idea, stressing the need to protect European citizens from individuals involved in violence during the aggression.

"It is necessary to protect the citizens of European states from Russian bandits."

— Andriy Sybiha, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

Lithuania's Ministry of the Interior has already reported preparing a list of people who will be banned from entry; Lithuanian Minister of the Interior Vladyslav Kondratovych estimates the number of such participants in the war to be in the hundreds of thousands.

What could change and what questions to expect

If the EU supports the initiative, we can expect changes to the visa code or mechanisms to coordinate refusals of visas and residence permits, as well as long-term entry bans across the entire Schengen area. This would create a legal precedent for preventing the return to Europe of those involved in war crimes and hybrid operations.

At the same time, questions about the evidentiary basis will arise: how to verify participation in hostilities, what legal safeguards are needed to protect against erroneous decisions, and how to prevent abuse. These details will be the subject of discussions at the EU summit on 19–20 March.

Conclusion

This initiative is an example of how security logic turns diplomatic statements into proposals for concrete tools. For Ukraine, it is important that allies not only acknowledge the threat but also implement mechanisms that genuinely reduce risks. The ball is now in the European Commission's and member states' court: will they be able to timely formulate legally robust rules that combine effectiveness and the protection of rights?