News


Number of Russian citizens entering EU halves

2022-10-12

  • 25 600 Russian citizens have entered the EU over the past week (03-09 October), half the number from the week before
  • Most of the Russians are entering the EU through Estonian and Finnish border crossing points
  • Arrivals decreased due to the stricter EU visa policy, Russia’s measures to keep military-age men from leaving

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine seven months ago, more than 1.379 million Russian citizens have entered the European Union through its land borders. Meanwhile, more than 1.341 million Russian citizens have returned to Russia via its land borders with the EU.

As in the previous week, the majority of the Russian travellers hold residence permits or visas to EU Member States or Schengen Associated Countries, while others have dual citizenships.

The Russian partial mobilisation has led so far into an increase in border crossings of Russian citizens mainly to the visa-free and other countries that are easy to reach (Georgia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia) as EU increases entry restrictions.

The number of entries into the EU by Russian citizens (mainly men of military age 18-65) will likely drop further as the EU maintains stricter measures in visa policy, while Russian authorities established conscription offices near border crossing points.