Germany asks European partners to suspend visas for Russians following the latest acts of sabotage carried out by the Kremlin

Germany is urgently calling on its European partners to tighten the rules for Russian citizens entering the European Union with tourist visas, against the backdrop of recent sabotage attempts that Berlin attributes to Moscow.

German authorities are investigating a suspect from Belarus who holds a Russian passport and allegedly entered the EU with a Schengen visa issued by the Italian embassy in Minsk. According to sources in German security services, the man allegedly tried to prepare an attack at Leipzig Airport using drones carrying explosives. However, the suspect allegedly did not travel to Italy.

The German Foreign Ministry considers the number of visas granted to Russian citizens to be too high, in the context of the war against Ukraine and the hybrid attacks carried out in the states on NATO’s eastern flank. The Berlin government is also considering sanctions that could make it impossible for Russians to enter the bloc.

Data cited by Euractiv show that Italy issued the most Schengen visas among EU states in 2025, while the number of visas granted to Russians by the Italian embassy increased from 63,894 in 2021 to approximately 165,000 in 2025. Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Czechia have already suspended the issuance of visas to Russian citizens.