Steven N.Hungary does not plan to stop issuing Schengen visas to Russian citizens, including multiple-entry visas, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó in a statement to Russian state news agency TASS in New York.
I accept that others are not issuing visas to Russian citizens, but that’s not for me to talk about. We did not make any such a decision. Why should we?
-the Foreign Minister stated.
“There is a clear methodology for issuing visas to tourists from countries with which there is no visa facilitation agreement,” he said. “This is a procedure that is more complicated and naturally somewhat slower than when a visa facilitation agreement is in place. But if there is no visa facilitation agreement, it doesn’t mean that we don’t issue visas. We will of course continue issuing visas according to the procedure.”
Péter Szijjártó added that visa policy is Schengen policy. Since Hungary is a Schengen member state, there is a certain procedure governing how this is done, but no decision was made to stop issuing Schengen visas to Russian citizens.
Several EU member states, such as Latvia, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, have refused to issue humanitarian visas to Russians fleeing mobilization, citing security reasons. [Népszava]
The arrogance and cyn/cynicism of Orban`s people, including Szijjarto, is pretty spectacular.
Yes of course, why should Orban reject visitors from Russia, especially those who are close to Putin and bring him so much money! Why should he refuse entry to those who orchestrate atrocious crimes against humanity.
At every turn in this war, Orban has demonstrated exactly what his “principles” are, namely that he has none and only cares about wealth and power and happily colludes with those who rape and murder civilians, including women and children.
By association Orban is aligning himself with those crimes.