At 10:00 on 14 October 2026, the EU Council’s visa policy working group is due to gather at the Council Justus Lipsius Building in Brussels to consider a change that could divide access to Europe country by country for Russian travellers. Its agenda includes a proposal for visas of limited territorial validity for Russian nationals making non-essential journeys.
Such Limited Territorial Validity, or LTV, visas would permit entry only to the countries named on the document, rather than the full Schengen area of 29 countries. The paper before the group is titled ‘The issuance of limited territorial validity (LTV) visas for Russian nationals in case of non-essential travel’, and is designated RAT: 13741/26, dated 06.10.2026.
The proposal comes as EU governments take differing approaches to Russian visitors. Around 478,000 Schengen tourist visas were issued to Russian citizens in 2025. Finland stopped issuing tourist visas to Russians shortly after the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, while Greece, Spain, Italy and France continue to issue them.
The European Commission recommended in November 2025 that Russians should not receive multiple-entry Schengen visas. Their number has fallen sharply, though some continue to be issued.
Germany has submitted a Non-Paper, WK 13914/26, calling for a unified restrictive approach to visa issuance for Russian nationals. Polish, Swedish and Estonian officials have also pressed for tighter controls.
They have pointed to the threat of hybrid attacks from Russia. The wider effort is intended to strengthen EU defences against hybrid warfare, state-sponsored sabotage, arson and cyberattacks.
Gunnar Strömmer, Sweden’s justice minister, said the Commission was preparing a proposal that should be launched in January next year. “It's obvious I think for everyone that we have vulnerabilities in our system that can be used by our enemies,” he said.
Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, has proposed a complete EU entry ban for former members of the Russian armed forces. He said there were around 650,000 former combatants who could be barred “person by person.”
The EU is preparing a person-by-person entry ban on an estimated 650,000 former members of the Russian armed forces.
Magnus Brunner, the European commissioner for migration, said “the numbers are not going down anymore” when asked about Russian citizens receiving visas.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said in September that member states could tighten controls on Russian diplomats within the Schengen area and reduce the number of tourist visas issued to Russians.
For Russian travellers, an LTV system could make a single trip across several countries harder to arrange. Representatives of Russia’s tourism industry say the visas would significantly complicate multi-country bus routes and combined journeys through several states.
Finland’s prime minister, Petteri Orpo, has called for a fuller restriction. On 11 October, he said a complete halt to tourist visas for Russians was necessary to strengthen Europe’s security, and said he would submit the proposal at the EU summit on 15–16 October.
The working group’s discussion comes before that summit. The European Commission is expected to present formal visa-restriction proposals in January 2027.
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