Poland and the three Baltic states have announced a "common approach" to ban access to their countries for most Russians with EU visas from later this month, moving all four beyond the curbs recently agreed by all 27 EU members.
A joint statement on September 8 by Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland cites increasing security and other concerns over a "substantial and growing influx" of Russians amid the fallout from Moscow's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
"Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland have agreed on a common regional approach and hereby express their political will and firm intention to introduce national temporary measures for Russian citizens holding EU visas in order to address imminent public policy and security threats and restrict the entry into the Schengen area for the Russian citizens traveling for tourism, culture, sport and business purposes," it reads.
It also stresses that the coordinated move by all four on their respective national levels are "not an outright entry ban and commonly agreed legitimate exceptions will remain in force for dissidents, humanitarian cases," and a handful of other circumstances including diplomatic missions and familial links.
They say the bans will go into force separately in their countries by September 19.
The EU's members hotly and publicly debated the wisdom of a near-complete ban on Russian visitors last month, with Germany and France arguing such a move would be counterproductive and Nordic and Baltic states leading the proponents.
The statement welcomes the EU-wide decision on August 31 to suspend the bloc's visa-facilitation agreement with Russia as a "necessary first step."
"However, further measures are needed both to drastically limit the number of visas issued (primarily tourist visas), and to decrease the flow of Russian citizens into the European Union and the Schengen area," it says.
One of the strongest arguments against a ban was that it punished all Russians for a war and other policies prosecuted by an authoritarian government mostly unaccountable to its public.
"It is also unacceptable that citizens of the aggressor-state are able to freely travel in the EU, whilst at the same time people in Ukraine are being tortured and murdered," the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Polish statement counters.
They also say that "among the Russian citizens entering the EU/Schengen area, there are persons coming with the aim of undermining the security of our countries, insofar as three-fourths of Russian citizens support Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine."
Russian authorities have criminalized many public and even private expressions of dissent against the invasion, even from abroad, tightened measures against the media and NGOs, and banned calling the war anything but a "special military operation."
Tens of thousands of Russians have left their homeland since the invasion began in late February, possibly to evade official strictures or to escape the unprecedented financial, airspace, trade, and other international sanctions put in place in the West.
"We fully uphold the need to continue to support opponents of the Putin regime and provide them with opportunities to leave Russia," Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, and Warsaw said.