The EU’s decision to end multi-entry Schengen visas for most Russian citizens has triggered a wave of outrage, cynicism, and self-pity across Russian social media – from Kremlin-aligned politicians to opposition activists and ordinary users lamenting the “new iron curtain.”
Announced on Nov. 7, the measure means that, with limited exceptions, Russian nationals will now only be able to apply for single-entry visas to the Schengen area. According to the EU, the move responds to “Russia’s continued war of aggression against Ukraine and the security risks linked to large-scale visa issuance.”
Existing multi-entry visas remain valid, but the EU said travel to Europe is “a privilege, not a right.”
Kremlin warns of ‘provocation’
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the visa restrictions were provocations engineered by the European Union: “They should dream on, because the retaliatory measures would follow – but they would be taken, first of all, based on our national interests.”
According to Russian news agency TASS, Zakharova also criticized the EU’s reasoning: “The European Commission’s thinking is apparently this: why does Western Europe need tourists who actually have money when there are illegal migrants and Ukrainian draft-dodgers living on benefits.”
Another senior lawmaker, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma’s international affairs committee, said the ban would harm Europe more than Russia. “Europe has punished itself by banning multiple-entry visas to Russians… The tourist flow from Russia to Europe dropped nearly to zero long ago,” he said.
Outrage and entitlement: critics say it hurts ordinary Russians
Among opposition-leaning commentators, the dominant sentiment was frustration that the measure hurts ordinary Russians rather than those in power.
Anti-Kremlin commentator Vladimir Arzhanov wrote that the decision “fanatically harms everyone except Putin’s regime,” adding that even prominent figures wanted by international courts “travel freely,” while dissidents are left stranded.
“Matvienko and Tolstoy will go to Geneva,” he said, “but Alexei Moskalev, a former political prisoner, cannot even apply for a visa to Germany. The citizens of Russia who oppose the war will be left without Schengen. Iron logic.”
Exiled activist Ignat Davydov, who has lived in Germany on a humanitarian visa for four years, said the EU’s move “surprises with its stupidity and short-sightedness.”
“It hits ordinary Russians – including many activists and journalists – while the EU, the US and other partners still have major flaws in their sanction policies,” he wrote. “If the EU’s task is to fight the Russian opposition, it’s doing a good job.”
‘Stupid and ineffective’: critics slam the policy
Prominent opposition activist Sergey Parkhomenko called the European Commission’s decision to end multi-entry Schengen visas for Russians “outstanding in its stupidity, inefficiency, and demonstrative helplessness.”
He said the measure would not stop those the EU claims to target – “scouts, saboteurs, propagandists, thieves and corrupt officials” – since they already travel on diplomatic passports. Instead, he argued, it would make life harder for ordinary citizens and civil society figures.
Parkhomenko also mocks the idea of “exceptional visas” for journalists and activists, saying that such stamps would effectively serve as certificates of unreliability in the eyes of Russian border guards.
“People are offered to go and volunteer to receive a certificate of their ‘disgrace’ at some embassy,” he wrote. “Now this opportunity to leave the country in an emergency will become even more complicated.”
Political analyst and blogger Kirill Shulika accused Brussels of hypocrisy, arguing that Europe was “building a new iron curtain” that would hurt precisely those Russians most sympathetic to Europe’s values.
He said the new rules – allowing multi-entry visas only for relatives of EU residents, truck drivers, and seafarers – amounted to the construction of a new barrier between Russia and Europe.
“It will hit those Russians to whom Europe is close – those critical of the government, who see themselves as part of today’s Europe. The EU cannot deal with the Kremlin or the ‘bad Russians,’ but it can deal with the ‘good Russians’ – those it can still reach,” Shulika said.
Civil reactions: “To hell with your Europe”
The EU’s announcement also triggered a torrent of emotional reactions across Russian-language social media, particularly on X, where users mixed outrage, sarcasm, and defiance in equal measure. Comments ranged from open anger to weary acceptance – some accusing Europe of “discrimination,” others dismissing the decision as meaningless or long overdue.
Several commenters accused Europe of “double standards,” pointing to migration from Africa and the Middle East.
Another user sneered: “How many of those arriving on boats have you taken in today?”
Others downplayed the significance of the change, noting that multiple-entry visas had already become rare.
“Before this, they gave multivisas for one or two months – what’s changed? How many times could you even fly in a month?” another wrote mockingly. “Now they’re just pretending it’s stricter.”
Nationalist bravado was also on display, with several insisting Russia no longer needed Europe.
Another insisted: “Middle-class Russians have been waiting for this. There’s nothing to do in Europe – travel across Russia instead. It’s more interesting and beautiful.”
Some users reacted with open hostility or derision.
A few voices adopted a more melancholic tone, framing the EU’s move as the end of an era.
Anti-war voices: ‘The privileged are crying’
Among more critical users, the mood was scathing toward their fellow citizens. One commenter argued that Russians upset about losing visa privileges had “earned their fate,” while others mocked those lamenting missed Paris vacations as detached from reality.
A widely shared remark captured the sentiment succinctly:
“They cry about Milan while Ukrainians bury their children.”
These reactions reflect a small but vocal segment of anti-war Russians who see Europe’s restrictions as a mirror – revealing how distant much of Russian society has grown from the consequences of its government’s war.
Between isolation and indifference
Taken together, the reactions reveal a split mood inside Russia’s public sphere:Kremlin loyalists denounce the EU for “Russophobia,” opposition figures portray the decision as a blow to exiled civil society, and a minority shrugs it off as irrelevant compared to the ongoing war.
For now, the EU’s latest visa measure – meant to tighten the screws on Moscow while keeping channels for humanitarian travel open – has succeeded in one thing: reminding Russians that Europe’s doors are still open, but no longer welcoming.