The head of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry believes that border guards have every right to ask Russian citizens about their position regarding Russia's actions in Ukraine and clarify the territorial affiliation of Crimea.

According to Landsbergis

, only the answer to this question can be the reason for refusal to enter the country .

"If a person crossing the border with Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland believes that Crimea is not occupied, we can conclude that the entry of such a person does not meet the interests of Lithuania's national security," said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania.

Landsbergis noted that Vilnius can introduce such a rule unilaterally, but if the rest of the EU countries bordering Russia joined it, it would be "effective".

At the end of July, the Latvian authorities reported that foreign citizens trying to enter the country from Russia and Belarus will undergo strict checks at the border.

The Russians reported, in particular, about the demand to sign a document at the border condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania told Politico that EU countries should immediately cancel the multiple-entry Schengen tourist visas issued to Russians.

President of Latvia Egil Levits also called

to cancel already issued residence permits and visas to those citizens of Russia who support the war in Ukraine

.

Today, in an interview with Latvian radio, Levits proposed to isolate Russian-speaking residents of the country who oppose the political course of the state from society.

On August 23, a monument to Soviet soldiers began to be dismantled in Riga.

14 people were detained in Victory Park.

  • On August 8, the President of Ukraine,

    Volodymyr Zelensky

    , in an interview with the Washington Post called on the West to ban all Russians from entering its territory.

    Zelensky called it "the only way to influence

    Putin

    " and stop hostilities on Ukrainian territory.

    A wide public debate has developed around this proposal.

    The issue will be discussed at the meeting of foreign ministers of EU countries on August 31 in Prague.

  • A number of EU countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic, stopped issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens even before Zelensky's proposal.

    Estonia also announced a ban on entering its territory for Russians who have a Schengen visa issued by this country.

  • Germany has made it clear that it does not agree with this idea.

    Portugal and Hungary spoke against such a measure.

    The idea of ​​banning the issuance of visas to Russian citizens was not supported by the supreme representative of the EU in foreign affairs and security policy,

    Joseph Burel

    .

    The European Commission has ruled out a complete suspension of issuing visas to Russians, because it contradicts EU norms.