Ukraine war thread

[Dr Strangelove]

[Dr Strangelove]

The EU issued nearly half a million tourist visas to Russians in 2025.

Not to dissidents. Not to refugees. Tourist visas. For holidays. The highest number since Putin sent his army into Ukraine, up 10% on the year. France, proud, principled, morally unimpeachable France, raised its Russian approvals by 23% in a single year.

When the numbers got awkward, the EU did what the EU does. It deleted them. Russian visa statistics quietly vanished from the official Schengen tracker in early 2026. Eight countries had to formally demand they be put back.

They hid the data. Not the policy. The data.

Ten countries, the Nordics, the Baltics, and the Netherlands among them, had to write an actual letter to get this onto a ministers’ meeting agenda. The remaining seventeen apparently saw nothing strange about any of this.

No law is coming before summer. Because before any law can exist, there must first be a proposal. Before the proposal, a consultation. Before the consultation, a scoping exercise. Before the scoping exercise, a working group must be convened to determine whether a scoping exercise is appropriate. The working group requires terms of reference. The terms of reference must be approved by a subcommittee. The subcommittee reports to a committee. The committee feeds into a framework. The framework informs a roadmap. The roadmap gets amended seventeen times and renamed a “strategic pathway.” The strategic pathway is then circulated to member states for comment. France requests more time. The whole thing goes back to the working group.

Any legislation won’t pass before 2027. Possibly 2031, if Italy has a strong summer season.

Ukraine is entering year five. Russians are entering Italy.

Four years of sanctions packages, candlelit solidarity vigils, and solemn declarations about European values, and Paris increased its Russian tourist approvals by nearly a quarter.

The EU didn’t fail to stop the missiles. It didn’t even try to stop the sunbathing.