Kaja Kallas tells EU Parliament: member states can tighten Russian diplomat controls and ban visas for former combatants
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas told the European Parliament on September 15 that EU member states can tighten controls on the movement of Russian diplomats within the Schengen area, ban visas for former Russian combatants, and review the practice of issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens. She also said the EU is finalising its largest-ever sanctions package and continuing to dismantle Russia's "shadow fleet."
Key points
- Kaja Kallas spoke in the European Parliament on September 15.
- EU member states can tighten controls on the movement of Russian diplomats within the Schengen area, according to Kallas.
- Kallas said the EU can ban visas for former Russian combatants.
- Kallas said the EU should review and reduce tourist visas issued to Russian citizens.
- Kallas said the EU is finalising work on its largest sanctions package to date.
- Kallas said the EU is consistently eliminating Russia's "shadow fleet," with EU naval operations playing a leading role in inspecting suspect vessels.
- The 21st EU sanctions package included a mechanism to ban visas for Russian military personnel, but the ban itself has not yet entered into force.
Why it matters
Kallas's remarks outline concrete additional EU measures targeting Russian diplomatic mobility and visa access that go beyond existing sanctions packages, signalling a multi-track escalation of EU pressure on Russia. The fact that a visa-ban mechanism for Russian military personnel already exists in the 21st sanctions package but has not yet entered into force points to implementation gaps between political agreement and operative effect.
What happened
Speaking in the European Parliament on September 15, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas laid out several additional measures the EU and its member states can take against Russia. She said member states can strengthen controls on the movement of Russian diplomats within the Schengen area, ban visas for former Russian combatants, and review and reduce the practice of granting tourist visas to Russian citizens. On the sanctions track, she said EU sanctions have already cost the Russian economy one trillion euros and that the EU is finalising its largest-ever sanctions list. She also said the EU is continuing to dismantle Russia's "shadow fleet," with EU naval operations leading the inspection of suspect vessels. The 21st EU sanctions package already contains a mechanism to ban visas for Russian military personnel, but the ban itself has not yet entered into force.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Both Ukrainian-language outlets covering the speech — Європейська правда and Українська правда — frame Kallas's remarks as a unified package of potential EU restrictions on Russians, covering diplomats, combatants and tourists simultaneously. The reporting treats the announcements as a single escalation step rather than separate policy tracks.
Background
Hungary recently expelled 10 Russian diplomats, illustrating uneven member-state enforcement of restrictions on Russian diplomatic personnel, and the EU has already limited the size of the Russian mission to the EU. Kallas has previously called on EU member states to accelerate defence preparations, arguing that threats to Europe are intensifying and that member states must be ready sooner than the previously declared 2030 target. The EU has been discussing visa restrictions for people who fought on Russia's side in Ukraine since the summer.