Amid the ongoing Russian invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the European Union to limit the issuance of visas to Russian citizens. In an evening video message on Friday, August 12, he thanked the Czech Republic, the Baltic States and other European countries that have brought the visa issue for Russians to the level of official discussion in the EU and criticized the current policy of regarding EU visas for them.

“We must not destroy the very idea of ​​Europe, our common European values, that is, we must not turn Europe into a supermarket where it doesn’t matter who enters and, most importantly, that one person simply pays for the goods,” stressed the president. Ukrainian.

At the same time, he acknowledged that there are people in Russia who need protection. Persecuted citizens in the Russian Federation should receive assistance from the civilized world through refugee, asylum and other mechanisms, Zelensky believes. “But this is for those who fight and are persecuted. And this should not apply to the rest of Russian citizens in Europe, tourism, entertainment and business. You cannot work for a terrorist state,” he stressed.

Zelensky in an interview with WP urged the West to ban all Russians from entering

In an August 8 interview with The Washington Post, Zelensky called on Western countries to ban all Russians from entering their territory. . All previously imposed sanctions against Russia are “weak” compared to closing borders to Russian citizens for a year and introducing a complete embargo on Russian energy purchases, he said.

At the same time, Zelensky noted that this measure is also likely to affect Russians who have left the country due to disagreement over the war in Ukraine. “Whatever Russians you are talking about, send them back to Russia. Then they will understand,” he added and stressed that all citizens of the Russian Federation must be held accountable for the actions of the authorities.

After that, the European Commission pointed to the absence of a legal norm that prohibited the issuance of short-stay Schengen visas to foreigners, and ruled out the complete cessation of issuing visas to Russians as contrary to EU standards. At the same time, the issue of restricting the issuance of Schengen visas to Russians was brought up for discussion by the Council of the EU at the end of August. German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in turn, spoke out against a total ban on issuing visas to Russian citizens.