German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday spoke against the ban on tourist visas for Russian citizens, which is requested by Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia and Finland, and reminded that the corresponding sanctions were adopted at the EU level against people from the Kremlin circle, reports Agerpres.

“This is (Vladimir) Putin’s war. And it’s hard for me to understand such requests,” Scholz said at a news conference on the energy crisis and war in Ukraine, which was quickly quoted by TASS, one of Russia’s state-run news agencies.

Scholz insisted that Russian President Vladimir Putin, not the entire Russian population, is responsible for this war, and such a blanket measure to ban visas for Russian citizens “would be directed against the entire population, including the innocent.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, on Wednesday appealed to the EU and G7 countries with a request to stop issuing visas to Russian citizens, similar requests regarding Russian tourists were previously formulated by the heads of the governments of Estonia and Finland, Kaia Kallas and Sanna Marin, and also that Latvia, which announced on Thursday Russia, a state sponsor of terrorism, has already stopped issuing visas to citizens of Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on Tuesday that suspending visas for Russian citizens would be “the most important sanction,” urging them to “leave them to live in their own world.”

Germany promises more support to Ukraine

Instead, Chancellor Scholz promised to increase financial and military aid to Ukraine so that it could repel Russian aggression.

The government in Berlin, departing from Germany’s post-war practice of not providing military aid, provided Ukraine with “very effective weapons, and we will continue to do so in the near future,” assured the Social Democratic Chancellor of Germany. DPA agency.

As for the possible conclusion of a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, he noted that there will be peace in this country only if it is satisfied with the terms of such an agreement.

When asked if he would accept former Social Democrat Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, known as a Kremlin ally, to mediate between Germany and Russia in resolving disputes caused by cuts in Russian gas supplies, Scholz initially said, “I don’t know.” , after which he added that such an action would be “commendable”.

Germany’s Social Democrats decided this week not to expel Schroeder from the party, a move that had been debated for months. On May 19, the German parliament canceled some of the benefits he enjoyed as a former head of state.

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