Germany urges EU to cut Russians' holiday visas after sabotage attacks

Germany is urging its European Union partners to restrict the issuance of tourist visas to Russian citizens following a series of suspected sabotage attacks, with Berlin citing a case in which a Belarusian national accused of plotting an attack on Leipzig airport was found to hold a visa issued by Italy, according to the Guardian.

The case has placed Italy at the centre of a sensitive debate inside the bloc over how to balance security concerns against the diplomatic value of maintaining people-to-people contact with Russian citizens, a discussion that has divided EU capitals since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.