The German Foreign Ministry said that when reviewing such applications, applicants are required to confirm personal, economic, social, or family ties to the country of stay. They cannot name the exact number of refusals for Russian men of conscription age in 2026 because the ministry does not keep such statistics.
Since the start of 2026, Germany has issued 23.7 thousand Schengen visas to Russians, and in 2025 — about 31 thousand. The German Foreign Ministry emphasizes that this is less than 5% of all visas issued to Russians by Schengen Area countries.
In total, Russian applicants received 618.8 thousand Schengen visas in 2025, of which about 478 thousand were related to tourism. France, Italy, and Spain issued 68% of all visas to Russians.
German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Martin Giese previously said that tourist trips by Russians to Germany cannot continue in their previous form while Russia is waging an aggressive war, and that the authorities want to cut the number of visas issued even further. In early June, members of the European Parliament from the German CDU/CSU bloc called for a ban on tourist visas for Russians.
In early September, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul announced stricter entry rules and border controls for Russian citizens after an attempted sabotage at Leipzig Airport. On the night of August 5, the target of the attack was the Ukrainian An-124 military transport aircraft, and German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that the German authorities hold Russia responsible for the incident; Bild wrote that investigators identified two suspects — a native of Russia with a Latvian passport and a Belarusian citizen with a Russian passport.
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