Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania (MAE) has persistently repeated the recommendations addressed to Romanian citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Russia.

Through a statement issued on 28 September, the Ministry stated that it has also advised the Romanian citizens who are temporarily residing in Russia to leave this territory as soon as possible, as informed by a news report in Schengen Visa.

“At the same time, the MAE recommends Romanian citizens present on the territory of the Russian Federation to show increased attention, to avoid places where there are public gatherings or large agglomerations of people, and not to engage in possible protest actions or other demonstrations that may generate street violence,” the statement reads.

Romania has also helped Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war by welcoming them to the country. According to the data provided by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Romania has accepted over 1,246,945 refugees from Ukraine.

The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently published the same advice, stressing that Polish citizens should not travel to Russia due to the country’s continuous occupation of Ukraine and the Russian authorities who recognize Poland as a hostile state. The advice also applies to business trips and urgent family matters.

At the same time, the advisory also notes the large reduction in the staff of Polish diplomatic and consular posts in Russia, limiting their ability to provide consular assistance to Polish citizens in case of any problems. Otherwise, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine on 24 February, Poland has been considered the neighbouring country that has received the most refugees coming from the warzone. The UNHCR data also reveals that Poland has received about 6,431,533 Ukrainian refugees so far.

On 27 September, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry joined the list of countries advising its citizens that trips to the Russian Federation should be avoided while those who live there should consider leaving the country as soon as possible to use the available means of transport.