Anna Fotyga was commenting on the current question of whether Russian citizens should be banned from entering the European Union.
ECR Coordinator for Foreign Affairs Fotyga said:”We need to understand that this war is not Putin’s war alone.”
“It is unacceptable that citizens of an aggressive country enjoy themselves in the EU while their troops kill peaceful Ukrainians and shell their cities and towns. That is why the EU must ban granting tourist visas to Russians altogether.”
“The citizens of Russia should experience first-hand that we will never accept the approach of their dictatorial, aggressive and unscrupulous regime, which has widespread support across the entire society. Poland, since the very beginning of the invasion, has limited issuing visas to Russians to the very minimum, stopping tourist ones while accepting humanitarian cases. I hope other EU countries will follow Poland’s example.”
Meanwhile, to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day on 24 August, Fotyga added, “Ukraine, with over a thousand years of rich history and vibrant culture and traditions, is an integral and indispensable part of Western civilization.
“Russia has repeatedly tried – in a barbaric manner, but always unsuccessfully – to destroy Ukraine’s statehood and to subjugate the nation. I am firmly convinced that the attempt we are seeing these days will end in Russia’s defeat. This defeat will be the decisive moment in the process of decolonisation and deimperialisation of the Russian Federation.
“Poland was the first country to recognise Ukraine’s independence. It is also among the first and most generous countries in supporting Ukraine.
“Together, we are building a new bilateral partnership and a new Europe, in which a victorious Ukraine will take its rightful place in the family of free, democratic and independent nations within the European Union and NATO.”
