Ban Russian visa to Europe? The ordinary Russian should feel responsible for the Kremlin’s policy, says the political scientist | iRADIO
Several countries of the European Union have significantly restricted the issuing of tourist visas to citizens of the Russian Federation, but others do not, and Russian tourists can enter the Schengen area via Finland, for example. “I understand the call for a ban on the entry of Russians into the Union as natural in a situation where Russia has militarily invaded Ukraine. The whole union condemned it, these are the natural consequences,” says Petr Just, head of the Department of Political Science and Anglophone Studies at the Metropolitan University of Prague.
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Just also considers it natural that the ban on tourists from Russia came as the first countries that have historically had bad experiences with Moscow. “I’m referring to the Baltics in particular. I think the first country to openly promote it was Lithuania, then other Baltic countries joined. Now, after that, Poland also starts very strongly,” the political scientist summarizes in the program How he sees it… on the Two.
Political scientist Petr Just: Hosted by Zita Senková
The attention of the European Union in the issue of tourist visas for Russians is also starting to focus on the Czech Republic. “Given that we are currently presiding over the European Union. So if it was a common position of the member countries of the union, it would be the Czechs who would moderate it, coordinate and try to bring it to the goal,” explains Just.
“Of course, it can be expected also on the basis of the energy summit that took place two weeks ago that Hungary was making problems with a high probability. I can’t predict how Finland’s position will eventually change, but obstructions on the part of Hungary can be expected,” says the political scientist.
A decision should be made at the summit in Prague on August 31.
Feel the responsibility
Just admits that applying collective wine to all Russians because of the war unleashed by the Kremlin is problematic: “We know that this is never a thing that leads to calming the situation.”
But he sees reasons for cancellation. “Even an ordinary citizen of Russia should know what his government’s policy is. And that there are some penalties for that. The government in Russia came to power through elections. We can only speculate how free and open they were, of course I have no illusions about that. But at the beginning there were voters, the society that brought this political elite to power,” judges the political scientist and adds:
“To a certain extent, they should have received a good feedback on how we perceive the actions of their politicians. How the international policy of their government’s perception of the European Union. And they should also feel some responsibility for it.”
Listen to the entire interview in the audio recording.
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