Prime Minister of Ukraine called on the EU to give the Russians a “cold shower”

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygal believes that the EU should limit the issuance of visas to Russian students and tourists, reports the German magazine Wirtschaftswoche.

As the head of the Ukrainian Cabinet urged, “it is necessary to arrange a cold shower for Russian society – in the form of a ban on issuing visas to tourists and students.”

Shmyhal is convinced that it is impossible to divide Russians into good and bad. Moreover, he is outraged that some Russian citizens “lead a beautiful life in the West”, spend their holidays there, RIA Novosti reports.

Recall that on August 31, EU foreign ministers failed to agree on a general ban on issuing visas to Russians, as many EU states opposed it.

Previously, some EU countries – in particular Latvia, Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic and others – wanted to put forward at the European level a requirement to stop issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens against the backdrop of sanctions imposed by Western countries against the Russian Federation due to its special military operation in Ukraine. However, the European Commission previously emphasized that the EU visa code does not contain the possibility of stopping the issuance of short-stay visas.

At the same time, by a majority vote, the EU Foreign Ministers agreed on a complete suspension of the visa facilitation agreement between Russia and the EU. “This will significantly reduce the number of new visas issued by European states. Obtaining visas will become more difficult and lengthy,” warned the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.

However, he assured, certain categories of Russian citizens will still be able to obtain EU visas. “There is a general understanding that the issuance of visas will continue on an individual basis for each specific case and, in particular, for specific groups of people,” Borrell stressed.

Commenting on the situation, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that the decision of the European Union to freeze the visa facilitation agreement with Russia is ridiculous and absurd.

“This is bad for the Russians, because it will take longer and more difficult to get visas, most likely, we do not know exactly how it will be, but most likely it will be longer and more difficult. But, of course, the withdrawal of this agreement will also make the situation more difficult for the Europeans. Therefore, (this) is another ridiculous decision from a series of such ongoing absurdities, ”the Kremlin spokesman emphasized.