Greek Embassy in Russia Ready to Issue Schengen Visas, Ambassador Says
The Embassy of Greece in Russia can now issue Schengen visas to all persons who want to visit the country, Greek Ambassador to Russia Ekaterini Nassika has recently announced.
“The responsibility for issuing visas to visit our country rests entirely with our Consulate General. Let me assure you that its employees are very experienced people and they are ready for anything. So we can ensure the issuance of Schengen visas to everyone who wants to visit our country,” Ambassador Nassikapointed out in this regard.
The announcement follows a previous statement of Greece’s Tourism Minister, Harry Theocharis, that the country would begin welcoming Russian tourists who present a negative result of the Coronavirus test, or vaccination certificates, from May 14, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
Such an announcement has already led to an increase in hotel booking rates and rising hopes for many tourists who plan to visit the Hellenic Republic.
Even though some countries do not accept vaccines that are not authorized by the World Health Organization or the European Medicine Agency, such as those coming from Russia and China, authorities in Athens recognized Russia’s vaccine against the Coronavirus, which is named Sputnik V.
Greece’s Tourism Minister also highlighted that the vaccination is not obligatory for tourists; however, this process would save them from many formalities.
At present, Greece’s government applies restrictions on international flights due to the rapid spread of the Coronavirus. These preventive measures have been extended several times after estimating the Coronavirus situation in other countries.
However, Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) previously clarified that essential travel would continue to be permitted, despite the ban on international flights, which is set to last until March 22.
The country’s government previously emphasized that it aims to attract at least 50 percent of the total 31.3 million persons who visited Greece before the Coronavirus pandemic outbreak, as during last year, the arrivals drastically dropped due to COVID-19.
Greece’s Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis earlier this month launched the vaccination certificate, which now permits to enter the country all persons who have taken the vaccine against the COVID-19 without being required to present e negative result of the PCR test or follow quarantine rules.
The launching of vaccination passport listed Greece among other European countries that also consider the idea of green certificates as the most helpful one, to help the tourism sector recover from the damages caused by the virus and ease the travel process for all passengers.
