While Russian airlines were barred from the European Union under sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine, Cyprus and Greece are supporting Germany’s call to grant visas to Russian tourists.

The prohibition on Russians, who are a key market for a number of countries, including Greece and especially Cyprus – where they are a big presence – was raised by Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania, said POLITICO.

https://www.politico.eu/article/cyprus-greece-germany-oppose-ban-russia-tourist-visa/

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the Russian people shouldn’t be affected by President Vladimir Putin’s actions in invading Ukraine, with Russian energy exempted from the sanctions because the EU relies on it.

EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss the calls for a tourist ban at a meeting in Prague at the end of August, the news site said, with Cyprus, also home to a big Russian expatriate community, especially against it.

“It would be a decision in the wrong direction,” Kornelios Korneliou, the General-Secretary of Cyprus’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told POLITICO.

“We believe in people-to-people contacts and even Turkish nationals are granted visas by the Cypriot authorities, so we don’t consider that measure has any value for Russians,” he said.

That was in reference to Turkey not recognizing Cyprus – a member of the European Union that Turkey has been trying to join since 2005 – and Turkish bans on Cypriot airplanes and ships entering the country.

The majority of Cyprus’ Russian speakers, some 50,000, live in Limassol, a city of 237,000 on the southern coast. Russians accounted for 25 percent of total tourist arrivals in the island before the war, the report noted.

“We shouldn’t prevent these communities from coming into contact with families and friends,” Korneliou added. “The main weapon is European unity and our partners should respect the sensitivities of others on this issue,” he added.

Cyprus otherwise has, if reluctantly, supported the sanctions although it has taken a toll on the island’s economy that relies so much on Russians, including businesses, investors and using the state’s banks.

A number of Russian businesses also had to leave Cyprus after the sanctions but the report noted that there is also a growing number of Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian entrepreneurs, mainly from the Information Technology sector, interested in setting up businesses.

Northern Greece is favored as a holiday destination by Russian tourists, traditionally in the summer, the report added, and even without them is seeing what could be a new record year of foreign visitors.

Russians wanting to come to Greece are generally arriving through Serbia where they can enter by car, the report noting that compared to the record breaking year of 2019 there was also a 177 percent increase in arrivals through Turkey.