The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechia, Jan Lipavský, has said that his country will propose once again to restrict the movement of Russian diplomats in the Schengen Area.
Such a plan was announced by Minister Lipavský following the arrest of two Russian agents in Germany over espionage allegations, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
The two Russian agents were arrested last week in Bavaria. The authorities said that it is suspected that these two individuals have been sending information to Russia and have also planned attacks aimed at sabotaging support for Ukraine.
According to Euractiv, Minister Lipavský said that the Russian intelligence represents a threat to the European Union.
The same stressed that Czechia fully supports Germany’s decision to take measures and not allow Russia to bring terror to its territory.
Russian intelligence threat in Europe is a reality. Full support to firm reaction of Germany.
In an official statement before entering the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg, Minister Lipavský told reporters that Czechia wants to propose tightening the measures for Russian diplomats and no longer permit them to travel freely in the Schengen Area.
We need to continue to strengthen Europe against Russian imperialism. Today is another milestone to it. I will be lobbying for the Czech measure to remove asymmetry in behaviour towards Russian diplomats who can freely move across the Schengen. That’s my goal today.
In addition, Minister Lipavský highlighted that new instruments aimed at tackling Russian spy threats need to be developed.
At the same time, he said that his proposal to curb Russian spies from entering and moving across the Schengen Area could be achieved without delay. Nonetheless, an official decision by the EU’s relevant authorities needs to be made.
Under the proposal made by Czechia, Russian diplomats will be able to enter the country that issued the Schengen visa but not travel to the other member states.
Czechia Already Proposed Restricting Movement of Russian Agents in 2023
This is not the first time that Czechia has proposed tightening the Schengen travel rules for Russian diplomats.
Back in the autumn of last year, Czechia proposed that Russian agents are no longer allowed to travel freely within the Schengen Area. however, this proposal has not received support from all the Schengen member states.
According to Euractiv, the reason why some countries have not supported the proposal by Czechia is that the move may violate the Schengen rules as well as the Viena Convention of Diplomatic Relations.
The EU has already tightened some of the visa rules for Russian diplomats. In 2022, the EU decided to no longer issue Schengen visas to Russian diplomats under facilitated rules.
