View of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. File photoMOSCOW, Aug 18Members of the opposition right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party intend to put pressure on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to keep his promise and not impose a ban on the entry of Russian tourists into the country, party leader Tino Krupalla told RIA Novosti. conference after the meeting of the leaders of the Nordic Council in Oslo, in fact, repeated the last thesis of Vladimir Zelensky that the EU authorities should not interfere with the visa issue of Russians who are against the government. Asked about visas for Russians, he reiterated his repeated words that it was the right decision for the EU to «impose sanctions against those responsible for the war.» Among the «responsible» he named the oligarchs and those who benefit from the Russian government led by President Vladimir Putin.The EC recalled the right of the EU countries to independently restrict the issuance of visas «The European continent should not be divided. We will put pressure on Chancellor Scholz so that this time he sticks to his position and does not succumb again to pressure from the warmongers of the Greens and the Free Democratic party (FDP),” Krupalla said. According to the party leader, the AfD opposes the ban on the entry of Russians. “Ukraine, together with well-known military lobbyists in the West, will try to push other states to this step. Apparently, Germany and France oppose the on entry for Russian citizens throughout the Schengen area… I pin my hopes on Hungary, which has so far acted reasonably and independently,” Krupalla added. “Freedom of movement, and therefore freedom of travel, is considered a human right. of this right. Such entry bans can quickly go beyond the causes of war and lead to a new «Iron Curtain» . We cannot allow this,» he said. According to Krupalla, the Schengen visa code does not provide for the termination of the issuance of short-stay visas. However, he acknowledged that Schengen rules have given EU member states more leeway for politically motivated restrictions on long-term visas. On Wednesday Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis proposed at the EU level to cancel the validity of tourist Schengen visas issued to Russians. From August 18, Estonia introduces a sanction restricting the issuance of visas to Russian citizens and entry into the country with a Schengen visa already issued in Estonia, however, citizens of the Russian Federation who were issued a visa by another country participating in the Schengen Agreement, while they can enter the republic. Also, earlier, the government of Finland announced that the country would halve the number of applications for visas in Russia from the beginning of September — up to 500 per day, 20% of the total time will be reserved for tourists and 80 % — for people traveling for reasons other than tourism. The Latvian parliament adopted a statement in which it called on the EU countries to stop issuing visas to citizens of Russia and Belarus. Moscow considers proposals to ban the issuance of Schengen visas to all Russian citizens as a manifestation of chauvinism, such statements by European politicians will not remain without consequences — «you will have to answer for them,» said the deputy director Department of Information and Press of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Ivan Nechaev. As Konstantin Kosachev, vice speaker of the Federation Council, emphasized, the proposal to deprive Russians of the right to obtain Schengen visas is contrary to the EU's human rights obligations and the Union's regulations. » />The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry called for the annulment of tourist Schengen visas for Russians
