Sweden urges EU to tighten tourist visas for Russians amid Ukraine war

Sweden's migration minister has branded it "insane" that Russian citizens are enjoying European holidays and shopping trips while Ukrainians face death on the battlefield, urging the European Commission to impose stricter rules on tourist visas for Russians.

The call comes after Sweden, alongside ten other nations, sent a letter on Wednesday to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and migration commissioner Magnus Brunner. The letter highlighted a concerning rise in the number of tourist visas issued to Russians, despite Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. The signatory countries pressed the EU executive body to urgently tighten and harmonise these restrictions, warning that inconsistent regulations risk undermining both security and the sanctions policy implemented against Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian government has yet to respond to the appeal. However, Russian officials have previously accused European nations of being gripped by "anti-Russian hysteria" and openly racist towards their citizens.

Currently, Russians holding a Schengen visa are permitted to travel freely across the Schengen area, which encompasses 25 EU member states and four additional countries.

According to data cited in Wednesday's letter, 477,787 Schengen visas were issued to Russian citizens for tourism in 2025, up from 440,558 in 2024.

"I think it’s insane, frankly speaking, that we are seeing hundreds of thousands of Russian tourists coming to Europe, enjoying sunshine," Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell told Reuters while attending an EU justice and home affairs meeting in Luxembourg.

"They are having weekend shopping trips, drinking rosé wine, while at the same time Ukrainians are dying on the battlefield.”

Moscow and Kyiv deny targeting civilians, but there have been many civilian casualties as Russian airstrikes pound Ukraine and Ukrainian drone strikes reach increasingly deep into Russia.

The letter to Kallas and Brunner was signed by ministers from Sweden, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Russia's Defence Ministry said that its forces had taken the village of Huliaipilske in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, state news agency TASS reported.

Russia refers to the village by its Soviet-era name of Komsomolskoe.