Visa nonsense: Schengen for ITS veterans may be closed without a common decision of the countries

Schengen can be closed to ITS veterans even without a single decision from all countries. Estonia and Lithuania are already forming lists of participants in the special operation. As explained in the Russian Union of Travel Industry, in practice such a measure can be implemented through the SIS system: if one of the Schengen countries enters a person into the database with a refusal to enter, the other states of the zone begin to take this signal into account. The Interior Ministries of Switzerland and Austria confirmed to Izvestia that in this case the ban would apply to the entire Schengen area. Recent cases involving the detention of Russians show that there are already serious risks for Russian citizens that have nothing to do with the fighting.

Europe is preparing an entry ban for its participants

The European Union is discussing an entry ban for Russians who participated in a special operation in Ukraine. At least eight countries approve this measure: Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Finland, Sweden and Estonia. They sent a letter to the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, on the eve of the EU summit on March 19-20, at which this topic should be discussed at the general level.

The Baltic countries became the driving force of the initiative. Back on March 5, the topic reached the pan-European level after statements by the Estonian side, and in January, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhna said bluntly that participants in hostilities on the Russian side "have no place in a free Europe" and that they need a single ban on Schengen visas and residence permits in the EU. Already on March 12-13, Lithuania announced that it was joining the Estonian initiative and was working on similar measures.

At the same time, Tallinn does not limit itself to political statements. According to the data officially announced by Estonia, at least 1,334 people were included in the already published lists: first in January — 261, then on February 6 they were expanded by another 1,073.

The initiative may spread to other countries without a single EU decision. In practice, the Schengen Information System (SIS), a common database used by the countries of the zone, can play a key role here. It includes, in particular, persons who should be prohibited from entering or staying in the territory of the Schengen area.

Estonia and Lithuania do not need to wait for a separate new EU decision to begin restricting entry, Mikhail Abasov, an expert at the Russian Union of Travel Industry and CEO of VCP, told Izvestia. According to him, the current SIS mechanism already allows any country to add a person to the database as a person who poses a threat to public or national security.

— If such a mark appears, the record of one country becomes visible to all others, both border guards and visa services see it, and they are obliged to take this into account, — he noted.

At the same time, Estonia's conditional entry into SIS will automatically close entry for Russians who participated in its entire Schengen territory, the Austrian Interior Ministry confirmed to Izvestia.

— When submitting visa applications, an individual review of each application is always carried out. If there are indications that the presence of a Russian citizen who participated in hostilities against Ukraine may pose a threat to public order or security, or if this person is registered in the Schengen Information System (SIS) as a subject to entry refusal, the visa will be refused," the law enforcement officers noted.

The German Foreign Ministry also confirmed this information. It should be borne in mind that the Schengen area now includes 29 countries — 25 EU states and four countries outside the union: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland.

— Fedpol can issue entry bans for foreigners if it is necessary to ensure the internal and external security of Switzerland. If one of the Schengen countries decides to introduce a general ban on entry for former Russian combatants into the SIS, it will apply to the entire Schengen area, including Switzerland, the Swiss Interior Ministry said.

Borderline disorder: The EU may ban the entry of relatives of ITS members

The restrictions threaten to affect up to 2 million people - most likely, only individual countries will introduce them.

At the same time, only Ireland and Cyprus are EU members outside of Schengen. Probably, for this purpose, a decision at the general level is needed to block the entry of Russians to the entire European Union.

However, Andrei Kortunov, an expert at the Valdai Club, believes that the initiative itself is unlikely to radically change existing practice: in his opinion, European countries are already able to implement a significant part of such restrictions within the framework of the existing Schengen procedures. It is also worth recalling that Russians, even those who are not affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Defense and other government agencies, are already unwilling to visit Europe because of the risks to their own security.

Back in December last year, Alexander Butyagin, a Russian archaeologist and employee of the Hermitage Museum, was detained in Poland at the request of Ukraine, which accuses him of illegal excavations in Crimea and the export of artifacts. He denies these accusations. Moscow calls the case politicized and the accusations absurd. According to the latest information, on March 3, the Warsaw District Court extended his arrest until June 1, and the next hearing on possible extradition to Ukraine is scheduled for March 18. From Ukraine's point of view, all Russians involved in the special operation are criminals against whom much more serious charges can be brought than illegal excavations in Crimea. Accordingly, nothing prevents them from sending such targeted requests to European countries right now.

Another revealing story is the case of the Korean historian Andrei Lankov. In February, he was expelled from Latvia and declared persona non grata with an indefinite ban on entry, being included in the list of undesirable persons by decision of the country's foreign minister. Lankov himself spoke about the lack of explanations in the documents shown to him. According to the Latvian side, the decision was made based on information from the security services.

How can the new system work?

At the same time, a political solution at the EU level is needed for another reason. Estonia and Lithuania will not be able to quickly and massively add a huge amount of data to SIS, because the system requires individual verification of each name, verification of information and legal grounds. That's why they need a political mandate at the EU level, so that other countries can support this practice, and the burden is distributed more widely, Abasov noted.

— Even if Estonia or Lithuania start making lists in the SIS, there should be a mechanism — on what basis. Because now neither Vilnius nor Tallinn actually issue visas. This means that a separate mechanism should be developed on the basis of which they make such decisions. Now they are most likely agreeing on this," the expert emphasized.

In practice, this can work in several stages. According to Abasov, the first stage is to tighten visa filtering, that is, more checks, more refusals, more interest in a person's biography: where he worked, what he did, what career breaks he has, what traces there are in social networks. The second stage is the entry into the SIS when the data is verified.

Theoretically, consulates can request additional documents from applicants for such verification, including military tickets, if they deem it necessary, the expert emphasized.

— The bottom line is that they are afraid that when the conflict is resolved, the people who have been through IT will go to them. That's what they're shutting down," Abasov explained.

No good: EU demands from Balkan countries to cancel visa-free travel for Russians

Montenegro may take this step as early as 2026, and Serbia and BiH will not yield to pressure yet, experts believe.

But the system will not work without any exceptions. In special cases, a country may still issue not an ordinary Schengen visa, but a document with limited territorial validity, for example, for humanitarian reasons, national interests or international obligations. The governments of European countries that maintain dialogue with Russia can do this. For example, Hungary or Slovakia. But this is an exceptional regime, and not the free right of any country to ignore the signal in SIS.

A separate question is how such a decision will be legally formalized at the EU level. If we are talking about changing the visa or Schengen rules, the decision may not be taken unanimously, but by a qualified majority of EU countries. If they try to implement the measure as a foreign policy or sanctions solution, then the consent of all states will be required. In this case, the initiative could potentially face resistance from countries like Slovakia or Hungary.

In any case, it will not be possible to implement such a measure quickly: a full-fledged expansion of the database and synchronization of mechanisms will require time, additional resources and verification of large amounts of data, therefore, it is not worth waiting for the launch of such a system before autumn, Abasov concluded.