Brussels: The Ecu Fee on Friday suggested EU member states to re-examine the phrases on which they grant visas to Russian travellers and to root out candidates that pose a safety risk.

“We will have to no longer be naive, Putin’s goal is to wreck the EU and he wish to assault us the place we’re weakest,” warned EU house affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson.

She informed a information convention in Nuijamaa close to Finland’s border with Russia, that Moscow was once accountable for an unprovoked battle in Ukraine and warned that civilians may just act as spies, saboteurs or provocateurs.

She alleged that some Russian travellers had sought to annoy and humiliate Ukrainian refugees, who’ve been granted safe standing throughout the EU.

“We will be able to no longer exclude that individuals are coming with the purpose to impress, to take a look at to get some social unrest, or to impress violence or riots or such things as that or to take a look at to make use of propaganda,” she mentioned.

On Friday, the EU officially suspended a 2007 visa facilitation pact that had made it more straightforward and less expensive for Russians to go back and forth to Europe, however stopped wanting the overall go back and forth ban demanded through some member states.

Johansson mentioned the brand new laws would nonetheless permit passage to vetted dissidents, reporters and humanitarian circumstances, however that packages for easy vacationer and trade visas will have to be “reassessed”.

The Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania — which border Russia — have already toughened their very own visa laws, however Johansson mentioned she anticipated them to observe the EU pointers.

Just below 1,000,000 Russians already hang visas for the EU’s Schengen go back and forth space, and the commissioner mentioned member states will have to additionally re-examine those current go back and forth paperwork.