‘Visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right.’ With that sober observation, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas joined Ukrainian President Zelensky’s plea for the EU to introduce a visa ban on Russian tourists.
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland are also pushing to close their borders to visitors from Russia as punishment for the devastating war against Ukraine. They hope that the measure will target the Kremlin.
The proposal has exposed a divide within the EU between countries that are particularly committed to upholding European values and those EU countries that live in the shadow of Russia. They have been painfully acquainted with the consequences of this in the past. In short, a clash between ideals and practice.
Western European countries in particular believe that barring Russian citizens amounts to ‘collective punishment’, something that goes against the principles of the European Union. “This is not the war of the Russians, this is Putin’s war,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz explained his objections to the proposal.
Without Putin, Russia probably would not have started the war, but it is too simple to say that the Russians are therefore not partly responsible for the atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. Russia is not a democracy, that’s right, but that’s something the Russians themselves chose by voting for Putin over and over again. Opinion polls by the Russian independent research agency Levada also show that the majority of Russians support the war.
However, it is unwise to introduce a total visa ban for Russian tourists. The question is whether that will have the desired effect. It will probably only feed Putin’s myth that the West is out to humiliate Russia and the Russians. It would also deprive the Russians of the chance to take a look at the democratic side of the new ‘Wall’ that Putin has erected between East and West.
But the main argument against a visa ban is that it will be more difficult for Putin’s opponents to break out of his grasp. Instead of denying everyone visas, EU countries should be stricter in selecting those Russians who, as Kallas put it, deserve the “privilege” of visiting Europe.
The position of the newspaper is expressed in the Volkskrant Commentaar. It is created after a discussion between the commentators and the editor-in-chief.