On September 7, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, gathered in the Lithuanian city of Kaunas to discuss support for Ukraine with their colleagues from the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) – where Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland – have announced that they have reached an agreement to close their borders to Russian citizens holding a Schengen visa.
A week earlier, EU foreign ministers had met to discuss a possible suspension of visas for Russians, supported in particular by the Baltic countries. The 27 had finally opted for a less firm solution: the suspension of the 2007 agreement which facilitated the obtaining of these visas. A measure approved on September 7 in Brussels, and which should come into force on September 12.
Thus, for Russian citizens, the situation is currently as follows: knowing that air links have been suspended with European countries since the war in Ukraine, those who have a Schengen visa will no longer be able to travel to European countries crossing the border of the Baltic countries, and many of them did. As for those who want to apply for a Schengen visa, they will now have much more difficulty in obtaining it. These will cost more, the time taken to obtain them will be longer, the documents to be provided more numerous, the checks more scrupulous, etc.
Alternative routes but significantly more expensive
According to the Russian daily Kommersant, which refers to “countless complaints” on dedicated Internet forums