Overview
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and leaders of Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Sweden have asked EU chiefs to examine denying visas and residence permits and imposing long-term entry bans on identified fighters.
- The signatories requested that the proposal be placed on the March 19 European Council summit agenda to seek a coordinated EU response, with no bloc-wide decision announced yet.
- Their letter to Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa frames former or active combatants as a serious threat, citing potential violent offenses, recruitment into criminal or extremist networks, and support for Russian operations.
- A background paper cited in the coverage estimates about 1.5 million Russian nationals have taken part in the war since 2022, roughly 640,000 remain active, and more than 180,000 convicted criminals were recruited to fight.
- Analysts note that any Schengen-wide blacklist on this scale would face major logistical, legal and verification hurdles, echoing earlier warnings first raised by Estonia in January.