Filenews 20 August 2022
Cyprus and Greece are two of the countries that have sided with Germany in the debate on the proposal of Baltic States to ban the granting of tourist visas to Russian citizens, according to a report by the EU information website Politico.
As recalled in the publication, thoughts on this measure are expected to be discussed at the informal meeting of The Foreign Ministers of the European Union in Prague on 30 August.
The publication also refers to the fact that a large Russian community of 50,000 people lives in Cyprus, focusing on Limassol, as well as to the fact that 25% of tourists in Cyprus before the country's invasion of Ukraine came from Russia.
In a statement to Politico, the director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Cornelius Cornelius expressed the opinion that such an action "would be a decision in the wrong direction".
"We believe in contacts between people and the Cypriot authorities even provide visas to Turkish citizens, so we do not think that such a measure will be of value as far as Russians are concerned," he added.
"We must not prevent these communities from coming into contact with families and friends," Mr. Cornelius also said. "The main weapon is European unity and our partners should respect the sensitivities of others on this issue," he added.
As noted in the publication, despite the strong relations with Russia and the impact on the Cypriot economy, the Cypriot government supported the EU sanctions against Russia.
According to the report, Cypriot officials say that despite the departure of many companies, there are increasing cases of Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian businessmen, mainly from the IT sector, who are interested in laying bases in Limassol.
The proposal to ban tourist visas for Russian citizens (who can cross into the EU via the land border as they cannot fly directly due to the flight ban) has been discussed lately by Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania.
Already Finland has decided to proceed with a significant reduction in the tourist visas it gives to Russian citizens.
However, as Politico reports, the German chancellor has disagreed with this proposal, since, as he said, the invasion of Ukraine is the fault of Vladimir Putin and not the Russian citizens.
The publication also refers to the fact that Greece, despite the positive feeling towards Russia in the country, was one of the first countries to announce that it would send weapons to Kiev.
But Greek government officials told Politico that there is no intention to restrict travel visas for Russians. Northern Greece, it is reported, is a popular summer destination for Russians.
As added to the publication, Greece has recorded an increase of 177% in air arrivals from Turkey in July compared to 2019, as well as a 257% increase in arrivals from Serbia.
According to officials, it is noted, many of them are Russian citizens although there is no specific data on the nationalities of citizens.
