EU Members Back Tougher Visa Rules for Russian Tourists

  • Foreign ministers make travel costlier, more difficult
  • EU’s Borrell calls border crossings ‘a security risk’

Josep Borrell 

Photographer: Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg
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European Union member states agreed to make it costlier and more difficult for Russian tourists to travel to the bloc, but stopped short of a full visa ban.

The bloc’s foreign ministers gave their political backing to suspending a 2007 deal that facilitated the issuing of visas to Russians, Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, told reporters after a meeting in Prague. “This will significantly reduce the number of new visas issued by member states,” he said.