EU countries are invited to jointly agree on a common list of third countries for which entry restrictions can be lifted from July 1. Likely, Russia will not be included in this list.
When removing restrictions, a number of principles and objective criteria will be taken into account, including the situation in the field of healthcare, the ability to apply measures to restrain the spread of coronavirus and the principle of reciprocity.
Russia was not included in the first list of “third countries” whose citizens are allowed to enter the EU on July 1. In this list are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia and Serbia. As the European Commission says, “the epidemiological situation in these states is similar or better than in the EU.”
According to experts, Europe will leave the borders closed for Russians. Firstly, the timing of the opening of borders from Russian side remains unclear. And this is unlikely to happen on July 1, so Russia will not be able to comply with the principles of reciprocity.
Secondly, the number of new cases of coronavirus in the Russian Federation is still large. European countries, including those states for which tourism is important, are not ready to host guests from Russia. Until July, Russian citizens are denied to visit Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece.
European states, the economy of which is closely connected with the flows of Russian visitors, also are in stand by position.
Thus, the Finnish border region of Lappeenranta, according to Finnish media reports, daily loses a million Euros due to the lack of Russian shopping tourists.
However, the Finnish government will maintain restrictions on movement across the Russian border until July 14. The national carrier Finnair, which in May announced the return of flights to Russia in July, canceled its plans.
