President of Latvia Egils Levits on Saturday, August 13, in Ikškile, addressing the participants of the 23rd gathering of politically repressed persons of Latvia, stated that up to this date issued the residence permits and visas issued for those persons who support Russia’s aggression should be cancelled.
As it is informed by the State President’s Chancellery Levits pointed out that recently, not only in Latvia, but also in a number of European countries, especially in Estonia, Finland, which directly borders with Russia, as well as in the Czech Republic, which is currently the country holding the presidency of the European Union, the discussion on Russian tourists in Europe has been started.
«Is it politically and morally justifiable: while the Russian army kills and burns in Ukraine, Russian tourists relax peacefully in Europe?» the president asked rhetorically.
Levits reminded that Latvia has not issued tourist visas since the first day of the war – February 24, but other countries continue to issue them.
Russian tourists enter Latvia not only with tourist visas issued by Latvia, but also by other Schengen countries, such as Finland or Italy.
Taking into account the above mentioned, Levits believes that Latvia, together with Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic and other like–minded countries, should put forward a request at the European level to stop issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens. These would be additional sanctions against Russia.
At the same time, the president knowing that a number of European countries, where Russian tourists leave a lot of money, will not be excited about such a proposal. The German chancellor has also expressed his doubts about it.
But Levits believes that it is necessary to talk about it and it is a matter of principle and emphasizes that the residence permits and visas, already issued in Latvia, should be also reviewed.
Those who support Russian aggression should have their residence permits revoked.
According to the president, residence permits should no longer be issued to those permanent residents of Latvia, who are to accept Russian citizenship in the future, and they should leave our country.
«The unjustified generosity of previous governments by trading with residence permits to Russian citizens, was hiding only the selfish interests of some polit –businessmen, has created security risks and promoted bilingualism. It’s time to audit the consequences of this failed and dangerous policy,» emphasized Levits.
As previosuly reported that Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, during a meeting with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė on Friday, August 12, said that at the level of the European Union, it is necessary to decide on the termination of the issuance of Schengen tourist visas to Russian citizens, thereby strengthening the sanctions against Russia.
The Czech Republic, which is the country currently presiding over the EU, announced on Friday, August 12, that the next sanctions against Russia could include a general ban on issuing visas to Russian citizens.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský of the Czech Republic announced that such ban will be proposed at a meeting of EU ministers of foreign affairs in Prague at the end of August.
In an interview with the US newspaper The Washington Post this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on the West to ban the entry of all Russian citizens, stating that this is one way to prevent Russia from annexing Ukrainian territories.
Zelensky said that Russians need to «live in their own world until they change their philosophy»