EU governments issued more than 620,000 Schengen visas to Russian citizens in 2025, a 10.2% jump over the previous year, with France leading both in volume and in growth, Ukrainska Pravda reported on 7 May, citing Euractiv's review of confidential European Commission data and EU diplomats.
The data exposes a six-month gap between Brussels' November security tightening — billed as a response to Russian sabotage, espionage, and weaponized migration — and what member states actually did.
Russians submitted more than 670,000 visa applications, up around 8% from 2024, and EU consulates approved over 92% of them. About 77%, or more than 477,000, were tourist visas. Family visits ranked second, business travel third.
France, Italy, and Spain together accounted for nearly three-quarters of all applications. France posted the steepest year-on-year increase: a 23% rise in visas issued to Russian nationals, Euractiv said.
The numbers cut against Brussels' public posture. In November 2025, the European Commission ended multiple-entry Schengen visas for Russian citizens, citing sabotage, espionage, and weaponized migration as drivers of "more frequent and thorough security screenings." Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, and Poland had already closed their land borders to Russian tourists holding Schengen visas issued by any other EU state.
Paris pushed to bury the data
The dispute spilled into Brussels' record-keeping.
In early 2026, Russian visa figures vanished from a new edition of the Schengen Barometer, the Commission's regular tracker. Eight EU countries pressed for an explanation. The data resurfaced in May — not in the Barometer, but in a separate technical document.
European diplomats cited by Euractiv said France was politically resistant and deeply unhappy with the figures appearing in the report. The European Commission declined to comment on whether national governments had pushed back, but confirmed it had given member states an updated overview of Russian visa issuance in April.
The split runs east–west
Baltic and Nordic states have argued for years that Russians should not travel to Europe for tourism while Moscow continues bombing Ukrainian cities. France, Italy, and Spain — geographically distant from the eastern flank — have continued issuing visas. The French Riviera, Italian lakes, and Spanish beaches absorbed much of the demand.
Officials in capitals that favor continued issuance argue that severing Russians from contact with Europe would deepen the Kremlin's hold on its citizens. Critics in the Baltics counter that an espionage rationale invoked in November loses force when applied unevenly — and that the pattern shows commercial interests overriding stated security concerns.
The November measure was not abstract. EU prosecutors and intelligence services have linked Russian military intelligence to a parcel-bomb scheme that placed incendiary devices on European cargo planes in 2024, and Brussels has renewed sanctions against Russian operatives running sabotage and influence operations across the bloc.
A combat-veteran ban is in the pipeline
EU institutions are now drafting a separate measure that would bar entry to Russians who fought in the war against Ukraine. The initiative is expected by June.
Whether the governments that drove the 2025 increase will back it is untested.
