Borderline disorder: The EU may ban the entry of relatives of ITS members
Brussels is allowing stricter visa rules for Russians, in particular, a possible ban on entry to Europe not only for ITS fighters, but also for their relatives, Izvestia found out. Such a step will require broad consensus, but it will be almost impossible to achieve it due to the position of Hungary, Slovakia and the countries of Southern Europe. Therefore, the most likely scenario would be the introduction of additional checks at the level of individual countries, experts believe. Targeted restrictions in the EU are also being discussed because the adoption of the 20th package of anti-Russian sanctions has been put on pause. Its text has been updated, a European diplomatic source told Izvestia. However, due to the conflict in the Middle East and serious disagreements between Hungary and Ukraine, the discussion of the document may take several months.
What new restrictions is the EU discussing
Despite the fact that the 20th package of anti-Russian sanctions has not been approved, and the world's attention is now focused on the conflict in the Middle East, discussions have begun in the EU about new restrictions. At the end of February, the head of the European Diplomacy, Kaya Kallas, said that Brussels plans to ban all Russians who took part in the fighting in Ukraine from entering the Schengen area.
This restriction may also apply to family members of the participants in the SVO, Tomasz Zdechowski, an MEP from the Czech Republic, told Izvestia. In his opinion, the combatants "should not enjoy the privileges of free entry into the European Union as tourists."
— Any measures must comply with EU legislation and be applicable in practice. Discussing the issue of extending restrictions to family members requires a thorough legal assessment and broad political agreement," the politician said.
Izvestia sent a request to the European Commission.
For the first time, there was talk of a visa ban for all Russians who participated in the military operation in Ukraine in January. The initiative was initiated by the Estonian authorities, which was previously headed by Kaya Kallas. Tallinn has already taken action: by March 5, restrictions were imposed on 1.5 thousand Russians, said Igor Taro, the Interior Minister of the Baltic Republic.
At the same time, the Estonian authorities do not disclose the names of the persons subject to the ban, the Russian Embassy in Tallinn stressed to Izvestia.
Visa policy is the responsibility of the national governments of the EU countries, and the European Commission mainly makes recommendations. For example, Belgium, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland, Estonia, as well as Norway (not an EU member, but part of the Schengen area) do not issue tourist visas to Russians. On the contrary, Hungary, Greece, Italy and Spain continue to actively issue "Schengen" to Russian citizens. Last year, according to experts from the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT), Russians submitted 620-670 thousand applications for Schengen visas, of which 540-570 thousand were approved.
Consideration and decision-making on this issue will, in a certain sense, be considered an ideological test of the EU member states regarding the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Ilya Shcherbakov, a political scientist and member of the presidium of the Council of Young Political Scientists of the Russian Association of Political Science, said in an interview with Izvestia.
"The countries of Southern Europe, which traditionally promote their vision of the conflict in Ukraine, will also take the opposite position on this issue, as opposed to the position of the EU locomotive countries (France, Germany)," the expert believes.
The introduction of a ban for a whole category of Russian citizens would be a manifestation of collective responsibility, which contradicts liberal values and the presumption of innocence. Direct collective restrictions may violate the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights, which will give rise to judicial challenges to the decisions.
Legally, the EU can ban entry to ITS members in two ways. Firstly, through the inclusion of individuals in the sanctions lists, which are adopted by the EU Council. Getting on such a list automatically implies a ban on entry into the Schengen area, Daria Moiseeva, Candidate of Political Sciences, chief analyst at ANO Kolaboratoria, told Izvestia.
— At the national level, it is possible to regulate entry for certain categories of citizens, introduce their own restrictions or additional checks. The most basic thing that comes to mind is to request a copy of a military ID card," the expert suggests.
According to Moiseeva, the EU countries will never have a complete database of their participants, with which they could check and refuse to issue visas. Therefore, spot checks and strictures are possible.
The German Embassy in Moscow clarified to Izvestia that applications from Russian citizens for visas can be considered longer and more carefully.
"At the moment, the German Embassy receives a total of significantly fewer applications for Schengen tourist visas and, consequently, fewer tourist visas are issued than before," the German diplomats stressed.
It is important to understand that it will be extremely difficult for Brussels to monitor the implementation of the bans if they are adopted. At the end of last year, Vladimir Putin announced that the number of Russian troops in the SVR zone was 700,000. In addition, it is unclear who exactly the European officials will consider family members of the Russian military. The average family size in Russia is 3 people, so up to 2 million people can be subject to restrictions, if only spouses and children are taken into account. With a broad interpretation of the family, restrictions will affect several times more people.
When will the 20th package of sanctions be adopted?
Brussels has so far failed to reach a consensus on new anti-Russian restrictions. At first, the EC intended to approve the package by February 24, but Hungary, with the support of Slovakia, blocked its adoption. Budapest will block anti-Russian sanctions, as well as a loan to Kiev of €90 billion, until Ukraine restores oil pumping through the Druzhba pipeline. Hungary and Slovakia consider the suspension of supplies to be blackmail to force Viktor Orban's government to lift its veto on negotiations on Ukraine's European integration.
However, Kiev is constantly delaying the deadline for resuming supplies, although even satellite data shows that the pipeline has no damage. Moreover, Vladimir Zelensky began threatening Viktor Orban with the Ukrainian armed forces due to the fact that Hungary is blocking another loan from the EU to Ukraine. In response, Budapest will stop the transit of important supplies for Ukraine until Kiev launches Druzhba. In addition, a group of Ukrainian citizens was detained, including a retired general of the special services on charges of money laundering.
Even the Hungarian opposition was outraged by the Ukrainian threats to Viktor Orban: its leader Peter Magyar called on the EU to sever all relations with Kiev until Zelensky explains his words.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has changed the text of the proposals for the 20th package of sanctions against Russia, a European diplomatic source told Izvestia.
— The Cyprus Presidency remains committed to reaching an agreement as soon as possible. The text has been amended in the light of the discussions, as the European Commission and the High Representative (for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. — Ed.) submitted their proposals. The text has already been sent to the participants of the discussions," the source told Izvestia.
As Tomasz Zdechowski noted, there are disputes about the scope and technical details of individual sanctions measures, so negotiations are difficult.
"I would not interpret these discussions as a weakening of efforts to impose sanctions, but rather as part of the process of ensuring that the package of measures is effective and supported by all member states," the MEP said.
Greece, Italy, Spain and Malta also had objections to the 20th package. They were not satisfied with the restrictions on foreign ports and banks related to the export of Russian oil, Western media reported.
As Daria Moiseeva noted, negotiations on the 20th package may last from several weeks to several months. The war in the Middle East is definitely delaying the final agreement, as it is destabilizing the regional European energy market. In such circumstances, it is especially difficult to reach a compromise.
Meanwhile, Russia itself may stop supplying gas to Europe — Vladimir Putin instructed to work out such a scenario. The new sanctions packages will not change Russia's policy, the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed. Nor will they allow the EU to become a participant in the dialogue on the Ukrainian settlement, in which Brussels remains only an observer.
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