Latvia “in connection with the international situation” indefinitely suspended issuing visas to Russian citizens. Estonian Foreign Minister Reinsalu said that in late August, Tallinn, at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, will offer to block Russians from entering the EU and completely stop issuing visas to them at the EU level. of the EU. This idea was supported by Finnish Prime Minister Marin, who considers it unfair that Russians can travel as tourists to Europe in the context of events in Ukraine.

“Send them back to Russia”

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an interview with The Washington Post, stated bluntly: “The most important sanctions are closing the borders.” And he developed his idea: “No matter what kind of Russians they are, send them back to Russia.” According to Zelensky, all citizens of the Russian Federation must be held accountable for the crimes of the Putin regime: “This population has chosen this government and does not fight it, does not argue with it, does not yell at it.”

Zelensky’s emotions can and even need to be understood. The West has imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia, but they still haven’t stopped Putin. The most difficult is for the Ukrainians, who carry the brunt of this war at the front, in the rear, in forced emigration. They demand from their government and Ukraine’s allies new measures that change the situation tangibly and visually. Without thinking about how justified, realistic and effective they are.

But if everything is clear with the motives and statements of Ukrainian politicians, then listen to the calls to deprive Russian citizens of access to Western countries, as well as to discriminate against them (and even expel them from Europe without exception) from the lips of politicians. from other countries that are not bombed and that are not directly involved in conflicts, very strange. Unfortunately, all this does not seem like a desire to really help Ukraine, but an attempt to play on the xenophobic and chauvinistic feelings of a part of the electorate in these countries themselves to achieve momentary political goals.

unrealizable offer

Emotions aside, Zelensky’s aforementioned proposals and the actions of some European figures are unlikely to have positive practical consequences. Firstly, because they do not enjoy unconditional support across Europe – only politicians from various EU countries present themselves with them, while the leaders of other states, especially those as significant as Germany, France, Italy or Spain, do not approve. they. They continue to issue visas to Russians and do not take any steps to expel or discriminate against them.

Furthermore, a blanket ban on entry into EU countries is a violation of the basic principles on which a united Europe was built. The “Iron Curtain” was lowered by dictator Stalin, not the leaders of the West, and throughout the years of its existence, democratic countries did everything to destroy it, helping those trying to escape dictatorship and repression.

Even assuming the proposed measures are implemented, what will they bring? Emigrants expelled to the Russian Federation and those who cannot leave the country will not be able to overthrow the Putin regime in any case. Unfortunately, mass peaceful protest in Russia is now impossible, because Putin’s special services for many years – and especially during the war – precisely prevented it. Isolated protests cannot do serious damage to the regime built in Russia – the authorities are ready to use violence and unarmed people are always weaker than the armed.

Emigration, especially those who have left in recent months, is extremely critical of the Putin regime. In itself, the departure of hundreds of thousands of citizens from Russia, in a sense, is also an action of protest. And that’s not to mention the fact that its citizens living outside the Russian Federation actively protested and protested against the war, work as volunteers and generally try to do everything possible to oppose Putin and help Ukraine. In doing so, they effectively deprive themselves of the chance not only of returning to Russia before the fall of Putin’s regime, but even of simply going there without risking arrest.

Who chose Putin and how

The accusation, often heard from different sides and repeated by Zelensky, that all Russian citizens have chosen Putin and support his policies, is based on the idea that fair and just elections are taking place in the Russian Federation, in which the majority voted for Putin and what he is doing now.

First, neither Putin nor United Russia had the idea of ​​starting a war against Ukraine in any election. Obviously, they deceived their constituents, who were promised only peace and stability all along. Secondly, the presidential and parliamentary elections in Russia in the last 10-15 years were completely dishonest and unfair, Putin’s critics were not allowed to participate in them and the voting results do not reflect the real state of affairs.

The Russian opposition has been talking about this for many years and with the facts in hand. Unfortunately, democracy in Russia did not end on February 24, 2022, not even in 2014, but much earlier. So blaming all Russian citizens for electing Putin is as naive as hoping they can get rid of him in some new elections.

Who improved?

Calls to punish without exception all Russians, including those who left the Russian Federation, fell on court all Putin propagandists. They are already talking from morning to night about Europe’s “Russophobia” and “Ukrainian Nazis”, and here the politicians of Latvia, Estonia, Finland and the President of Ukraine give them so many new reasons for demagoguery. The logic they propose is simple: as the way to the West for Russia and Russians in every way is closed forever, it is no easier for those who disagree with Putin to accept what is happening and become loyal to the authorities. russians? ?

Of course, all citizens of the Russian Federation will never take this position, there will definitely be lone heroes. But there are no examples of mass heroism in history, and in order to change the regime in Russia and further build a democratic society in the country, sympathy for such ideas from a significant number of its inhabitants is necessary. So whether we like it or not, but to bring about change in the Russian Federation, it is more useful to call its citizens to renounce Putin and show them real prospects of returning to the civilized world, rather than pushing them into the barracks of loyalty.

The atrocities of Putin and the Russian army already seem obvious and indisputable, the emotions of the Ukrainians are understandable and explainable, but the calls for revenge not on the real and direct perpetrators of the war and the participants in the crimes, but on all the holders of Os Russian passports indiscriminately contradict the basic values ​​of European civilization.

Author: Fedor Krasheninnikov is a Russian political scientist and publicist, author of the books “After Russia” and “Cloudy Democracy”, which he wrote together with Leonid Volkov. Telegram: @fyodork

The commentary expresses the author’s personal opinion. It may not coincide with the opinion of the Russian editorial board and German pit generally.