The Czech Republic became the first EU member state to suspend the issuance of visas for Russian citizens in all directions the day after the invasion to Ukraine, that is, February 25.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipovsky supported the suspension of issuing visas to Russian citizens to the countries of the European Union and announced his intention to raise this issue at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Prague at the end of August.
This statement by Lipavsky was reported by “Českej noviny” (Czech News Agency).
“During the Russian aggression, the declared borders of which are still shifting, the usual tourism of Russian citizens is out of the question. We are talking about our security, I have long been trying to reduce influence of the Russian special services on the territory of the EU,” Lipovsky said.
He also recalled that the Czech Republic became the first EU member state to suspend the issuance of visas for Russian citizens in all directions on the day after the invasion of Ukraine, that is, on February 25. The ban is still in effect, later the Czech Republic introduced it for Belarusian citizens, with the exception of humanitarian cases.
The Czech government is convinced that the suspension of issuing visas to ordinary Russian citizens will be a clear and direct signal to Russian society that the event does not intend to be subjected to aggression by the Russian regime and hateful rhetoric against free democratic countries that do not threaten Russia in any way.
“The citizens of these countries should be aware that such a militant policy has consequences,” he stressed Lipovsky.
Recall that the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dmitry Kuleba, supported the call of President Vladimir Zelensky to ban the West from issuing visas to Russians. He called on all EU and G7 countries to stop issuing visas to citizens of the Russian Federation until they “learn to respect international borders.”
Related topics:
Advertising
