The EU confirmed Friday it is toughening visa rules for Russian citizens and banning multi-entry permits in most cases.

Effective immediately, Russians will no longer be granted multiple-entry visas, meaning they will have to apply for a new, single-entry permit every time they want to travel to the bloc, as POLITICO reported Wednesday.

The measure will allow for “close and frequent scrutiny of applicants to mitigate any potential security risk,” the European Commission said in a statement. 

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, wrote on social media, “Starting a war and expecting to move freely in Europe is hard to justify.” She linked the new, stricter rules to “continued drone disruptions and sabotage on European soil.”

“Travelling to the EU is a privilege, not a given,” she added.

Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner said in a statement the EU will also introduce “enhanced verification procedures and elevated levels of scrutiny” for Russians applying for visas. 

The EU has dramatically reduced the number of visas it has granted to Russians since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, suspending a key visa facilitation agreement and bringing the figure down from 4 million a year to about 500,000. 

But the number of Russians entering the bloc actually increased by around 10 percent in 2024 from 2023, with Hungary, France, Spain and Italy continuing to approve visas in large numbers. Visa issuance is a national competence, meaning the Commission cannot unilaterally ban Russians from the bloc, and the new rules will be left up to member countries to enforce.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Commission Spokesperson Markus Lammert said the rules would not affect Russians already in the EU on multiple-entry visas, and added “limited exceptions” existed for Russians with close family members in the EU, who can still receive a multiple-entry permit valid for up to one year, along with Russians “whose reliability and integrity are without doubt,” such as dissidents and independent journalists.

As part of its 19th package of sanctions, the EU also plans to restrict the movements of Russian diplomats, requiring them to inform nations in advance if they travel across the Schengen Area, as a way to counter the Kremlin’s “increasingly hostile intelligence activities.” 

The measures have attracted criticism from Russia’s exiled opposition. 

Yulia Navalnaya, widow of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny and a key figure in the movement against Russian President Vladimir Putin, wrote to Kallas in September urging her to “make a clear distinction between … the regime” and Russian citizens. 

In an email interview with POLITICO following her letter, Navalnaya expressed frustration that the EU was targeting “ordinary Russians.” 

“The last thing I would ever want is to act as a defender of Russian diplomats in Europe,” she said. “But frankly, I do not understand how such measures could influence Putin, his regime, or the end of the war in Ukraine … Only a small fraction of Russians actually visit European countries.” 

Former oil magnate-turned-Kremlin-critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky said Western countries should focus on policies to help broaden the rift between the Kremlin and Russian society.

For anti-Putin Russians, Khodorkovsky told POLITICO, “the most demoralizing message possible is that the West sees every Russian as an enemy.”

Eva Hartog contributed to this report.