Italy issues visas to Russians with entry bans to seven EU countries

In September of this year, photographs of Russian passports with entry visas to Italy appeared on the websites of several companies. These visas indicated a ban on entry to the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Iceland, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Various sources explain this by the introduction of new sanctions against Russian citizens.

In fact, this is not true. The official website of the Italian Consulate General in Moscow states that this ban applies to non-biometric passports, which are issued for five years.

The reason is simple: the aforementioned countries do not recognize non-biometric Russian passports, i.e., those without an electronic chip. Therefore, Italy is forced to issue visas to holders of such documents, preventing them from entering those countries.

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