Schulz spoke of “Putin’s war”. Kyiv’s harsh response – O2

– Not Putin, but ordinary Russian soldiers came from Russia to kill, torture and destroy. The Russians support the war to a large extent, they support missile raids on Ukrainian cities and the killing of Ukrainians. Therefore, let Russian tourists have fun in Russia – we read in a statement by the Ukrainian Foreign Minister on Twitter.

This came in response to a statement by Olaf Schultz, who said on Thursday that Vladimir Putin is at war in Ukraine, and therefore the German government opposes a general ban on Russia’s entry into the European Union.

This war is Putin’s war. We have imposed far-reaching and specific sanctions against Russian officials, oligarchs and powerful organizations in Russia. We will definitely take the next steps. But if we now extend these measures to everyone, including the completely innocent, we will reduce the effectiveness of these sanctions, the German chancellor said at a press conference in Berlin.

Volodymyr Zelensky was the first to talk about banning Russia’s entry into the European Union for tourist purposes. The President of Ukraine appealed not to allow Russian citizens to enter other countries until they “change their philosophy”. Zelensky believes that such restrictions would be far more effective than the sanctions imposed by the European Union thus far.

Also on Thursday, the Estonian government announced that, with a few exceptions, it would not allow Russians with Schengen visas issued by Estonia during the past week to enter the country. Estonian Prime Minister Kaia Kallas has called for a halt to issuing tourist visas to Russians for their trips to the European Union. She emphasized that visiting Western Europe is a privilege and not a human right. The authorities of the Czech Republic, Finland and Latvia expressed a similar view.

Since the outbreak of the war, Russia’s neighbors have seen a significant increase in the number of tourists from Russia. Schengen visas allow you to travel within the region for a period of three months. Russians usually leave their country by land to use the airports there.