France’s defense ministry said on Tuesday that its tourist sites remained open to Russian visitors, after earlier confirming restrictions on Russian nationals’ access to its sites, which are considered confidential, leading to two women from Russia were stopped at the entrance to Vincennes. Castle.

Vincennes CastlePhoto: akg-images / ANA / Jacques Bravo / akg-images / Profimedia

The episode followed the “indiscriminate application” of a rule established “in February for all military facilities,” the office of French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Tuesday, AFP and Agerpres reported.

“It is clear that (this rule) cannot be applied equally to strategic locations and those that receive the public, such as museums,” the minister’s office explained.

The Chateau de Vincennes, as well as the Air and Space Museum and the Dome of the Invalides in the Paris region, can host Russian tourists, but their access to “strategic buildings” has been really restricted since February, when Russia attacked Ukraine, he said. the French Ministry of Defense reports.

Vincennes Castle is also home to one of the centers of the Service of Historical Defense (SHD), whose archives are open to the public under certain conditions.

  • Why France banned Russians from visiting Vincennes Castle
  • The Kremlin to countries that restrict the entry of Russian guests: “Let them come to their senses”

Two Russian women who wanted to visit Vincennes Castle on July 28 were stopped at the entrance. One of them, a 31-year-old journalist, told AFP that she was against the ban, especially since she left Russia precisely because she opposed the war.

Responding to questions about France’s measures, as well as Finland’s calls to stop issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens, Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov on Tuesday called on these countries to “come to their senses.”

READ ALSO:

  • Estonia and Finland ask the EU to stop issuing visas to Russians: “Visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right” / The Kremlin’s nervous reaction to this idea proposed by Zelenskyi on Monday
  • Zelensky calls on the West to close its borders to Russians for a year: “Let them live in their own world”
  • Latvia suspends the issuance of visas to Russians. What are the exceptions?
  • Finland wants to limit Russian tourist visas
  • The decisive measure that the diplomat calls on the EU to take against Russia

___

  • Follow the latest events of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HotNews.ro