Security fears over rise in French and Italian holiday visas despite war in Ukraine and Moscow sanctions.
Security fears over rise in French and Italian holiday visas despite war in Ukraine and Moscow sanctions.
Russian tourists are returning to Europe in growing numbers, despite the war in Ukraine, with France, Italy and Spain their favoured holiday destinations. The three travel hotspots are all Nato and EU members and have imposed sanctions on Moscow.
Hotel stays by Russians in Italy and France surged by more than 19 per cent in the past year, which Ukrainian diplomats branded “disturbing” and a security risk. But France, which spearheads the “coalition of the willing” nations supporting Ukraine with Britain, defends keeping borders open to rich Russian tourists, as does Italy.
The trend was analysis of data on hotel room stays and rentals on websites such as booking.com and Airbnb, and of visas issued to the EU’s Schengen free-movement zone. He told : “In the fourth year of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, it is extremely surprising to see statistics showing an increase in the number of visas issued to Russian citizens and a growth in tourist traffic from Russia to EU countries. “We know that Russian society overwhelmingly supports the war. Moreover, it prefers to think that Russia is at war with the West and not with Ukraine, where the Russian army commits war crimes on massive scale.”
A Shadow War with Open Consequences
Moldova today is a country under political siege. Outwardly, it may appear stable, but internally, the system is eroding. Its institutions are under fire—not from missiles, but from Telegram bots. Its voters aren’t mobilized, they’re bought. Moscow isn’t trying to win by the rules—it’s rewriting the rules.
If the West doesn’t increase its attention and support now, 2025 could become a breakthrough year for pro-Russian forces. Restoring lost ground afterward will be far more difficult and costly. Moldova may again hear voices in Chișinău praising the “brotherly Russia”, rather than envisioning a European future. We’ve already seen what this led to in Donetsk—and we all know how that ended.