Russia has announced a travel ban for EU leaders and parliamentarians. “The restrictions apply to the highest EU officials, including several EU commissioners and heads of EU military structures, as well as the vast majority of MEPs who support anti-Russian policies,” the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said yesterday. The ban is a reaction to sanctions imposed over the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of looking for new pretexts for sanctions against his country. “The entire West will not give up the policy of economic pressure on Russia,” he said. “This is objective reality.” Russia must take this into account when developing its economy. The West imposed unprecedented economic sanctions after Russian troops invaded neighboring Ukraine on February 24.
All Western sanctions were prepared in advance and would have been implemented “in any case”, Putin said. The punitive measures were directed against “that we do not dance to the tune of others and do not sacrifice our national interests and traditional values.” Russia will not become a “closed country”. But cooperation with Western companies as before will no longer exist in the near future.