Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, travelling across Europe has been much harder and more costly for Russians than before. The process of issuing visas to many countries is longer, more complicated and requires more documents. any countries (e.g. Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia or Norway) have introduced an almost complete ban on issuing tourist visas for Russian citizens. For many Russians, however, this is not an insurmountable barrier. They have their ways.
Russian: No questions asked at the airport
According to CNN, Russian travel agencies inactive offer trips to countries that theoretically blocked the entry of tourists from the US. These include the Baltic countries, Norway and Finland. The Russians besides travel on their own. CNN gives an example of influencer, who was in Austria, France and Germany last year. For trips to countries that block Russians' entry, he has a concrete idea. It advises on social media to usage "transit" by another countries that do not pose problems.
Another Russian blogger praised CNN (he asked not to give a name) that he had late visited Norway — a country that stopped issuing visas to Russian tourists in May 2024. "Let's be honest, obtaining a residence licence in the EU for digital nomads is not that hard now," wrote the blogger.
"We visited Riga last year to see Christmas fairs," said CNN Daria of Saint Petersburg. With a Spanish visa she flew first to Istanbul, then to Madrid, and on the same day she boarded the plane to the capital of Latvia. “No questions were asked at the airport,” she said. “I am not a part of this war, I do not support Putin. I do not realize why I should be discriminated against and treated as if I were a threat,” Daria emphasized in a conversation with CNN.
