Poland is ruling out no visas to be given to any Russians, only on a halt to issuing “classic tourist visas,” a deputy foreign minister has said.
Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek said neither Poland nor the Baltic states were talking about a blanket ban on visas for Russians.
“A more restrictive visa policy should be introduced at the EU level, but that does not mean, and I want to state clearly, that we are proposing that no visas be given to any Russians,” Szynkowski vel Sek told public broadcaster TVP Info on Tuesday.
He explained there are oppositionist Russians who oppose the Kremlin and they are granted humanitarian visas by Poland, “of course after thorough checking.”
“There are holders of the Polish Charter (a card issued to people of Polish descent – ed.), so people of Polish roots, who also do not support the Putin regime and these people are also given visas,” he explained.
But he said these cases represented occasional exceptions and that few visas had been granted since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. He added that “classic tourist visas have not been issued, visas enabling oligarchs and also collaborators of the regime to rest in Paris, Rome or the Canary Islands. That is simply immoral and we should curtail that procedure as quickly as possible.”