By Tass

Copyright tass

MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. Russia has no intention of restricting entry or closing its borders to citizens of European Union countries, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

“For our part, we have no plans to close our borders to European citizens or restrict their entry by any means, whether political or otherwise. We believe that people-to-people communication, including tourism, business, and humanitarian ties, should be maintained. Our country is interested in building bridges between people, despite all efforts within the EU to destroy these bridges, which they very much desire. But this is not part of our plans,” she stated.

Zakharova also criticized discussions within the EU about introducing restrictive visa measures, calling them “yet another instance of hypocrisy, double standards, and, above all, disregard for the law.”

Earlier, Handelsblatt, citing EU sources, reported that the European Commission intends to complicate the issuance of visas to Russian citizens as part of a new package of sanctions against Moscow. The outlet noted that in 2024 EU member states issued more than 600,000 Schengen visas to Russians. The Commission’s plan is to establish unified rules ensuring that all member states apply equal restrictions.

According to the report, the countries that issued the largest number of visas last year were Italy (over 152,000), France (123,890), Spain (111,537), and Greece (59,703).