Portugal has suspended the granting of new so-called Golden Passports to citizens of Russia, as part of its response to the EU's sanctions plan in response to the war in Ukraine.
Portuguese foreign minister, Augusto Santos Silva, told CNNPortugal: "The Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) has already suspended the assessment of any candidacy for residence permits for investment, the gold visas, of Russian citizens."
Santos Silva said that the EU approved a "dynamic sanctions regime" on 25 February and it is "very likely" that more Russian citizens will be sanctioned in the coming days, so they "precautionary" decided to freeze the concessions of these visas for that country.
Since the scheme went live in October 2012, 431 visas had been granted to Russian citizens.
While at EU level, in a joint statement on 26 February, leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States condemned "Putin's war of choice and attacks on the sovereign nation and people of Ukraine," and reiterated their resolve to "continue imposing costs on Russia that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies."
The group promised to implement five specific measures against Russia "within the coming days", the third of which was as follows: "We commit to acting against the people and entities who facilitate the war in Ukraine and the harmful activities of the Russian government.
"Specifically, we commit to taking measures to limit the sale of citizenship—so called golden passports—that let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems."
The UK last week suspended its Tier 1 Investor Visa with immediate effect.
