EU visa ban on Russian combatants ‘doable’, says bloc’s foreign policy chief

The European Union’s top foreign policy official has signaled that a sweeping visa ban targeting Russian military personnel and combatants fighting in Ukraine is legally and practically achievable, raising the prospect of a significant new pressure tool against Moscow.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, made the remarks during a briefing in Brussels, telling reporters the bloc has both the legal framework and the political appetite to move forward. “It’s doable,” he said plainly, adding that member states would need to agree on the exact scope and implementation timeline.

What a visa ban would actually mean

Under the proposed measure, Russian nationals who have actively participated in combat operations in Ukraine — including soldiers, contracted fighters, and members of private military groups like the Wagner Group — would be barred from entering any of the EU’s 27 member states. That’s a travel restriction affecting hundreds of thousands of people, based on estimates of Russian troop deployments that Western intelligence agencies have put at over 300,000 since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

But the devil is in the details. Defining who qualifies as a “combatant” is a complicated legal question, and critics have already raised concerns about enforcement. How would border officials at, say, a Finnish or Estonian crossing verify someone’s military service record in real time? Still, supporters of the ban argue that the symbolic and practical weight of such a measure shouldn’t be dismissed.

Not the first sanctions push — but possibly the sharpest

The EU has already rolled out 11 packages of sanctions against Russia since the invasion began, covering everything from energy imports to luxury goods. Yet none have directly and explicitly targeted individuals on the basis of battlefield participation in the way Borrell described.

Some member states have gone further on their own. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania stopped issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens back in 2022. Finland followed. So there’s a precedent at the national level — the question is whether Brussels can align all 27 governments behind a unified standard.

Political backing and resistance

Support for the measure appears strong in Eastern Europe, particularly among the Baltic states and Poland, which have long pushed for tougher restrictions on Russian nationals. But Hungary has repeatedly blocked or watered down sanctions packages, and Budapest’s position on any new travel restrictions remains uncertain.

A senior EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said informal consultations among member states had been “more encouraging than expected,” though no formal proposal has been tabled yet.

The timeline matters. With European Parliament elections behind it and a new Commission taking shape, the EU is entering a period where foreign policy direction could either sharpen or stall.

If Borrell’s assessment holds and political consensus builds quickly, a formal proposal could land before the end of the year. Whether it passes is another question entirely.