OREANDA-NEWS   Most EU countries do not support the idea of banning the issuance of tourist visas to Russians, Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka said in an interview with the Internet portal Seznam.

"This is the reality. There are countries that don't want this, and most of them," he said.

According to him, the Czech Republic also refused Helsinki's proposal to declare a pan-European ban on issuing visas.

Earlier in October, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen sent a letter to the European Commission calling for a ban on issuing tourist visas to Russians. Latvia and Estonia also made a similar proposal.