After the full-scale war began, Germany cut visas issued to Russians tenfold. It plans to cut that number even further.

German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Martin Giese said Germany plans to further reduce the number of tourist visas it issues to Russian citizens, Deutsche Welle reported.The day before, Germany accused Russia of attempting to sabotage a Ukrainian An-124 cargo plane at Leipzig Airport and announced it would close Russia’s consulate general in Bonn and the “Russian House” in Berlin, along with tightening entry controls for Russian citizens.Giese said tourist trips by Russian citizens to Germany “cannot continue in the same format as before” because “there is no normalcy” as long as Russia “wages an aggressive war.” Different countries, he added, apply varying degrees of strictness when deciding whether to issue Schengen visas.“There is still work to be done here. We will also be negotiating on this issue with our partners in the European Union. We want the number of visas issued to be reduced even further,” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.Giese said the goal of these measures is to ensure entry only for Russians who do not pose a danger, though he did not specify how Germany would determine that. He added that disclosing further details at this stage would be unwise, since Berlin’s goal is to “minimize risks,” and said he “did not want to give anyone the opportunity to circumvent these control measures.”Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergei Nechaev told the Russian state news agency TASS that staff at the “Russian House” in Berlin had been ordered to leave the country within seven days. “As for the Russian House of Science and Culture, the intergovernmental agreement governing its operations expires in the summer of 2027, but the staff who work there — they represent the House, Rossotrudnichestvo — must leave the country within seven days,” Nechaev said.An airport in Leipzig discovered a drone with explosives attached to it on the night of August 5. The drone was found near a Ukrainian An-124 cargo plane, which was carrying ammunition on board. Later it emerged that there were several drones. On September 1, Germany officially accused Russia of responsibility for the attempted sabotage. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Germany is “following a path of further escalation.”According to DW, German consulates issued about 27,000 short-term Schengen visas to Russian citizens in 2024. In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, the number of visas issued to Russians was about 330,000.According to official EU statistics, in 2025 European Union countries issued 620,000 Schengen visas to Russian citizens, 10.2% more than the previous year. Over the course of 2025, Russians submitted more than 670,000 visa applications — 8% more than in 2024. Nearly three-quarters of all visa applications from Russians go to France, Italy, and Spain.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.