Spanish authorities have suspended the issuance of “golden visas” to Russians

The Spanish authorities have decided to temporarily stop issuing the so-called “golden visas” – a residence permit in the country with investments in its economy, the country’s Foreign Ministry confirmed to RIA Novosti.

Since 2013, when the Golden Visa program was launched during the economic crisis, about a thousand citizens of the Russian Federation received a residence permit in this way.

Earlier, on February 28, it became known that Greece had suspended the issuance and renewal of a residence permit for Russian investors – the so-called “golden visa” program.

Later, in response to the military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, some other countries, including the United Kingdom and Portugal, announced the termination of the golden visa programs.

Recall that on February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), and on February 24 he made an emergency appeal to the Russians and announced a special military operation in Donbass. In his speech, he stated that “circumstances require decisive action from Russia” and stressed that “Russia will not allow Ukraine to have nuclear weapons.”

In response to Russia’s actions, Western countries (USA, Canada, European Union, Great Britain, Japan) announced new, tougher sanctions against the Russian Federation, including financial and economic ones.

In particular, Russian banks fell under the sanctions, including Sberbank, VTB, Novikombank, FC Otkritie and Sovcombank, and for a number of state-owned companies it was difficult to attract foreign capital.

Later, the EU countries and the United States agreed to disconnect Russian banks that fell under sanctions from the international system of interbank transactions and information exchange SWIFT. In addition, it was decided to freeze the assets of the Bank of Russia, which will create difficulties for its use of international reserves. EU countries also pledged to take steps to limit the sale of citizenship — the so-called “golden passports” that allow wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government to become citizens of EU states and gain access to their financial systems. In addition, the European Union, the United States, Canada and a number of other countries have closed the sky for Russian aircraft.

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