Poland Accepts 60,000 Russians Since Beginning of Year

In the first half of this year, more than 60,000 Russians entered Poland, including more than 42,000 from the territory of the Russian Federation, presidential adviser and former deputy interior minister Blażej Poboży told Radio ZET. 

This was reported by TVP Info.

According to the Main Directorate of the Border Guard Service of the country, in the first half of this year, 60,994 people with Russian citizenship entered Poland, of whom 42,805 crossed the Polish-Russian border, and another 9,368 Russians entered from Belarus. In the same period in 2023, the number of Russians who entered Poland was 48,486, of whom 31,570 entered from Russia and 8,099 from Belarus.

In turn, an official representative of the Polish border guards said that the border guard service ‘carefully checks the conditions of entry at the external borders of the EU’.

The Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the country has one of the most stringent visa policies towards Russian citizens, but in the case of visas issued in other Schengen countries, Poland is powerless.

The ministry also noted that in 2023, 4,294 visas were issued to Russians, the largest number of which were for scientific purposes - 1,748. These were also repatriation visas (237), humanitarian visas (945) and visas for persons entering on the basis of a Pole's Card (847), and another 290 visas were issued for the purpose of visiting.

The ministry added that this year, 1821 visas were issued to Russian citizens, including 875 for people entering on the basis of a Pole's Card, 86 for scientific purposes, 175 repatriation visas, 452 humanitarian visas and 168 visitor visas.