Published: Less than 20 min ago
The Sweden Democrats want to limit Russian tourist visas to Sweden, similar to Finland and countries in the Baltics.
The party’s announcement comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Western countries to close their borders to Russians for a year.
– Our starting point is to support Ukraine with all available means. And now that there has been a request from Ukraine, it is high time that the government responds to the demand and that they initiate and implement such an order, says the party’s foreign policy spokesperson Aron Emilsson.
SD fears that Sweden will become more attractive to Russian tourists when Finland and the Baltic countries limit tourist visas. On July 28, Member of Parliament Björn Söder (SD) asked the government a written question about tourist visas.
In normal times – before the pandemic, the Ukraine war and sanctions – Russian tourists make up between 0.2 and 1 percent of all tourists who come to Sweden, according to Visit Sweden.
– No measure is too small or too big to be able to tighten the thumb screws against Russia, says Aron Emilsson.