Ukraine’s president wants the West to ban Russian travellers in the hopes of boosting internal pressure against President Vladimir Putin. Calls from European states for a crackdown on visas are also growing louder. Such measures may seem appealing in light of Putin’s aggression, but there’s no guarantee that they’d work as proponents expect. Far better to lay out the welcome mat for Russia’s best and brightest.
Although individual European countries can reject Russian visa applications as a rule, the European Union has better and fairer weapons at hand. It should focus on ending undue visa privileges for Russia’s oligarchs, offering humanitarian visas to help opponents of the regime, and encouraging a brain drain of students and scientists — which would do far more to erode Putin’s ability to sustain his brutal invasion and repression.
Foreign ministers meeting in Prague next week will consider proposals to block Russians from the EU. To date, Europe has restricted travel bans to high-ranking officials, but EU members on Russia’s borders are demanding more. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have already imposed tighter visa rules and voiced support for a bloc-wide ban. It’s wrong, says Finland’s prime minister, that Russia should wage a war of aggression while its citizens live a normal life in Europe. Visiting Europe, says Estonia’s prime minister, “is a privilege, not a human right.”
Such arguments are understandable. But a blanket citizenship-based ban would be the wrong response.
For one thing, it would amount to collective punishment. Although many Russians have stood by as Putin cemented his grip on power, it’s hardly fair to hold them all equally accountable for an autocrat’s atrocities. By that logic, nations that supported the regime with unquestioning purchases of cheap energy would be just as culpable.
Similarly, some argue that a ban might stir internal dissent against the Kremlin. No doubt, it would cause some disgruntlement — Russians benefited from visas offering access to the EU’s Schengen area more than any other nationality — but it almost certainly won’t trigger sufficient pressure to force the regime to alter course. More likely, it would bolster propagandists’ narratives about the West, while ultimately making Russians themselves less inclined to see an alternative to the status quo.
What can Brussels do instead?
For one thing, Europe should finish what it has started when it comes to Russian migrants suspected of corruption and collusion with the Kremlin. Fast-track privileges have already been revoked, but Brussels should do more to close escape routes exploited by well-connected members of Moscow’s government and business elite. That means tightening checks in all member states, scrapping “golden visas” and other schemes used as workarounds by oligarchs, and reviewing the cases of those already granted residency or dual nationality. Many Russian officials and loyalists have been sanctioned; more should be if they’ve directly profited from the regime’s misconduct.
More important, Europe should work to attract Russia’s most talented. As a start it should support students, who tend to promote democracy at home after they've studied in democracies abroad. It should also ease the process for scientists, engineers and tech professionals to move, accelerating an already damaging rate of departures. Finally, it needs to stand up for those who are actively resisting Putin’s regime. Many of these activists are able to come into the EU to seek asylum only as tourists, and crackdowns are already having an impact. Humanitarian visas would be a significant help.
Such measures will be more complicated, and perhaps less satisfying, than simply rejecting Russian entrants wholesale. But they’d be fairer, less divisive, better for Europe — and, most crucial, far more likely to hit Putin where it hurts.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion
Banning Russian travellers won’t help win the war in Ukraine
Image: Bloomberg
Ukraine’s president wants the West to ban Russian travellers in the hopes of boosting internal pressure against President Vladimir Putin. Calls from European states for a crackdown on visas are also growing louder. Such measures may seem appealing in light of Putin’s aggression, but there’s no guarantee that they’d work as proponents expect. Far better to lay out the welcome mat for Russia’s best and brightest.
Although individual European countries can reject Russian visa applications as a rule, the European Union has better and fairer weapons at hand. It should focus on ending undue visa privileges for Russia’s oligarchs, offering humanitarian visas to help opponents of the regime, and encouraging a brain drain of students and scientists — which would do far more to erode Putin’s ability to sustain his brutal invasion and repression.
Foreign ministers meeting in Prague next week will consider proposals to block Russians from the EU. To date, Europe has restricted travel bans to high-ranking officials, but EU members on Russia’s borders are demanding more. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have already imposed tighter visa rules and voiced support for a bloc-wide ban. It’s wrong, says Finland’s prime minister, that Russia should wage a war of aggression while its citizens live a normal life in Europe. Visiting Europe, says Estonia’s prime minister, “is a privilege, not a human right.”
Such arguments are understandable. But a blanket citizenship-based ban would be the wrong response.
For one thing, it would amount to collective punishment. Although many Russians have stood by as Putin cemented his grip on power, it’s hardly fair to hold them all equally accountable for an autocrat’s atrocities. By that logic, nations that supported the regime with unquestioning purchases of cheap energy would be just as culpable.
Similarly, some argue that a ban might stir internal dissent against the Kremlin. No doubt, it would cause some disgruntlement — Russians benefited from visas offering access to the EU’s Schengen area more than any other nationality — but it almost certainly won’t trigger sufficient pressure to force the regime to alter course. More likely, it would bolster propagandists’ narratives about the West, while ultimately making Russians themselves less inclined to see an alternative to the status quo.
What can Brussels do instead?
For one thing, Europe should finish what it has started when it comes to Russian migrants suspected of corruption and collusion with the Kremlin. Fast-track privileges have already been revoked, but Brussels should do more to close escape routes exploited by well-connected members of Moscow’s government and business elite. That means tightening checks in all member states, scrapping “golden visas” and other schemes used as workarounds by oligarchs, and reviewing the cases of those already granted residency or dual nationality. Many Russian officials and loyalists have been sanctioned; more should be if they’ve directly profited from the regime’s misconduct.
More important, Europe should work to attract Russia’s most talented. As a start it should support students, who tend to promote democracy at home after they've studied in democracies abroad. It should also ease the process for scientists, engineers and tech professionals to move, accelerating an already damaging rate of departures. Finally, it needs to stand up for those who are actively resisting Putin’s regime. Many of these activists are able to come into the EU to seek asylum only as tourists, and crackdowns are already having an impact. Humanitarian visas would be a significant help.
Such measures will be more complicated, and perhaps less satisfying, than simply rejecting Russian entrants wholesale. But they’d be fairer, less divisive, better for Europe — and, most crucial, far more likely to hit Putin where it hurts.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion
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