The European Union has just imposed a visa ban on serving and former Russian soldiers. Implementation will not be easy – how do you tell if an applicant has served in the military? – but the principle is sound: those fighting for a state that threatens Europe should not expect to holiday there.

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This revives a broader debate. Who from Russia should Europe admit? Russia launched the largest invasion in Europe since 1945. It is conducting a campaign of espionage, sabotage and assassination across the continent. Its leaders openly describe relations as a state of war. In these conditions, immigration policy is an integral part of security.

Europe welcomed genuine political dissidents during the Cold War, and should continue doing so. But some argue Europe should go further. The exiled former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose arrest in 2003 and subsequent trial I covered while serving at the British Embassy, makes the case prominently. Since 2022, he has called on Britain and Europe to offer visas and employment to Russian engineers, scientists and other skilled workers. He argues this would both hurt Putin’s rule by draining Russia of skills, and help Europe by providing it with new expertise.

This view is doubtful and carries grave risks. European policy is not the main barrier to Russian emigration. Russia’s own stringent security restrictions prevent scientists and engineers in sensitive research programmes from travelling. Most other Russians remain free to leave the country. Hundreds of thousands have done so since the........

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