BRUSSELS — The European Union is debating a visa ban targeting Russian military personnel who have served since the start of the Ukraine war. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed the ban as part of the bloc's twenty-first sanctions package.

von der Leyen stated, "For the first time, we propose to ban from entry into the EU anyone who has served in the Russian Armed Forces since the beginning of the war. Europe stays off limits for anyone who has participated in the invasion of Ukraine. As simple as that." Adoption of the visa ban requires unanimous approval from all EU member states. The proposal has not yet been adopted by the European Union.

France and Italy are resisting the visa ban proposal, citing legal and technical concerns. These two countries currently receive the highest number of visa applications from Russia among EU countries. Russian passport holders are able to travel throughout the EU via Schengen visas in many cases. Measures restricting tourist visas for Russians have been limited to individual countries.

A group of eight EU member countries, including Germany, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Poland, first advanced the idea of imposing visa restrictions on Russian soldiers in spring 2026. This group appealed to the European Commission to address concerns regarding Russian military personnel entering Europe. They described this as one of the most serious risks to the EU's internal security arising from the war in Ukraine.

Opponents of the ban claim that limiting access to EU visas would represent a form of collective punishment. Some also argue that it is legally questionable and contradicts European values, while others suggest that visa bans would further isolate ordinary Russians. The appeal from the eight EU countries noted that convicted criminals have reportedly been recruited into the Russian military since 2022 in exchange for reduced sentences.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said, "We have close to one million combatants in Russia right now." He added, "Russia and Putin are already using different people to commit attacks on our societies, but when there will be peace, we can imagine that we will have hundreds of thousands of ex-combatants coming to Europe." The Reckoning Project, a global team that documents atrocity crimes, has collected over 800 testimonies since 2022. These testimonies describe systematic criminal behavior by Russian military personnel on occupied Ukrainian territory outside of combat activities.