Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Saturday compared a proposal for the European Union to ban visas for Russian tourists to a "Nazi policy."
"We are seeing another clear manifestation of Nazi policies with high-profile European officials pushing a Russophobic idea of blocking entry to EU countries to all Russian citizens," he said.
EU members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic have unilaterally introduced policies that limit or cancel visas for Russian citizens as a response to Moscow's war on Ukraine.
Finland plans to drastically reduce the number of visas issued to Russians starting in September, and Poland is considering similar moves.
Denmark is calling for a bloc-wide approach but has also said it could take action on its own. Germany, a driving force in EU policymaking, has been cool to the idea of banning tourists, arguing innocent individuals should not be punished for the Kremlin's actions.
Shoigu, meanwhile, offered familiar justifications for Russia's invasion of its neighbor as he addressed the first International Anti-Fascist Congress near Moscow.
He alleged that a nationalist policy by the Western-backed leadership in Kyiv has targeted Russian culture in Ukraine for years, and that this constituted a threat to Russian security.
In Ukraine's eastern Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, "the Kyiv regime has been committing terrible crimes against citizens for eight years," he claimed, referring to the start of fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists in 2014.
"At the same time, NATO began to open up Ukrainian territory militarily. Kyiv set a course for joining NATO. All this has created unacceptable threats to Russia's security," Shoigu said.
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Moscow calls possible EU entry ban for Russians 'Nazi policy' - Haaretz
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