Without shouldering any of the blame for the Ukraine invasion onto the ordinary Russian folk, I cannot get my head around men women and children being butchered by Russian soldiers, while their fellow countrymen and women can lie basking in the sunshine on a beach in some foreign resort.
Allowing Russian citizens to enjoy the privilege of traveling while their government is killing innocent Ukrainians is without doubt both morally and politically wrong. A visa ban might help them to take sides, and it would send the message that unless they oppose and condemn the war, there is no space for them in the West.
I also worry that allowing Russians to travel freely provides other countries with huge security issues. The Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas wrote recently in Time magazine: “What do the chemical attack in Salisbury in 2018, the Czech arms depot explosion in 2014 and the killing of a Chechen dissident in Germany in 2019 have in common? Russian agents using European tourist visas.”
The reverse side of my argument is the danger a tourism ban would have on dissidents to the regime, like journalists, civil society activists and outspoken individuals who face massive threats inside their country. We already hear about people disappearing; some mysteriously fall from hotel bedrooms or speeding boats. Somehow, the rest of the world has to sustain links to these brave souls who risk so much in simply articulating the truth.
(The position of the U.K. is quite clear at this time. The Home Secretary could ban the entry of all Russian citizens. Simples. But despite strong support shown for Ukraine by the government, there has been little political discussion of a ban on the entry of Russian citizens to the UK. I don’t think it will happen.)
Despite the prospect of a regime change in Russia appearing distant and, at this time, unrealistic, a change can only come from within. And that’s why its people have to be seriously disadvantaged until they all realise that visiting the rest of the world is a benefit that has to be earned; it is not simply a human right.
What their disgrace of a president is perpetuating at this time nullifies the rights of ordinary citizens to go about their normal business. My hope is that that increasing the pain for those Russians with enough disposable income to travel will encourage opposition to the Putin regime.
Of course, a visa ban won’t have anywhere near the same impact as military aid to Kyiv, but it would send a clear and convincing message.
Should Russian tourists be welcomed?
...in Europe?
This is how I see this question because Putin has closed the USA to Russians already through his embassy staff reductions. To get a US visa, you have to travel to Armenia or Kazakhstan, for instance. The rest of the world, from Turkey to Vietnam to African countries seem not to care about Russian tourists coming in. Plus, I think that Poland, the Baltic countries and Finland are taking such measures in part because they want to stop various Putin agents infiltrating, trying to get among regular tourists.
Let’s get closer to the problem: how many Russians have foreign passports? How many of them can, technically, travel abroad anyway?
According to the Levada Center, a profound Russian pollster, in 2020 only 28% of Russians had such passports in their hands. Out of these Russians, most of them traveled to Turkey, which is a #1 tourist destination and it is open anyway, even now. Even fewer of them had a chance to go to European countries. This also means that seven out of ten Russians have never traveled anywhere to cross the country’s borders.
What I think is that most of those who ever traveled to Europe, occasionally, or regularly, do not support Putin, or the war in Ukraine. But some of them do, I know it just from my personal experience. This is a very special tribe that loves European culture and comfort. However, they believe that we, Russians, are such cool people who can travel freely, do shopping, even buy property in Europe, and still support the war.
To me, this is essentially an ethical issue.
I believe that now you just can’t support war and at the same time enjoy a vacation in Italy. If you don’t share European values in theory, that’s fine, this is your right. But now the war is going on, so many people continue dying every day, and you want to do both things: to fight Ukrainians thinking that they are second-rate people, and still travel to Europe. Sweet.
I think there’s no way to combine it. If you support Putin and want to see Rome at the same time, then I have some bad news for you: no Rome for you this season. This is fair. Pay the price. Ukrainians are now sacrificing much more for their freedom and lifestyle than you guys are about to pay for your innocent vacation wishes.
Well, what about people like me, who have a 180-degree different point of view?
I personally can wait till the landscape changes to a point where Russians can again travel to Europe with no restrictions. The only condition for this is that Putin’s regime is defeated on the battlefield. Hopefully, there could be a nice appendix to it: this regime comes crashing down because many dictators have lost power within this pattern. Condition #1, I personally now think, is a matter of time. Condition #2 is still somewhere over the horizon but it is now not an impossible event. Then, a whole country will be a different place; and one of the outcomes would be to financially pay the price to restore what we’ve done in Ukraine.
P.S. I don’t believe that in an after-Putin Russia some radical nationalists, simply said, fascists or the military would come to power. Even if this happens, I think it is going to be a short transitional period because these guys just are not legitimate enough and not smart enough to rule a country like Russia. The only thing they can do is to make Putin go.
Then it will be time for a general election, a time to cancel all the repressive legislature adopted from 2011, a time to undertake plenty of military crime and corruption cases investigations, etc. And citizens of such a country will have every right to travel to Europe, or elsewhere.
Should Russian tourists be welcomed?
America is exclusively immigrants. Humans are not native to the continent so every last person is descended from an immigrant. Traditionally, the United States has been welcoming of those from other countries and Russians are no different.
Today there are well over one million Russians living in America. Brighton Beach is a Russian town, complete with Cyrillic street signs. Many are surprised to learn Miami Beach is perhaps one-half Russian. Almost everybody there is bi-lingual. Oregon has a large Russian minority tracing back to Imperial times. I remember them mostly for their style of dress; still imperial Russian.
America and Russia have a surprising and close history. Did you know that Russia actively supported the US during the American Civil War? This extended even to Russia dispatching warships to the US in support of the Union. Alexander II and family had close, personal relations with the Lincolns. The ladies were in fact best friends. We have written on the subject before.
Things are different now and that difference shaped much of the twentieth century. However, some things remain: thousands of Russians want to come to America. Many are refugees escaping from Putin and the Ukrainian not-a-war.
Currently, Ukrainians are being allowed into the US right away while Russians must wait. The result is that many Russian refugees are in Mexico looking for a way in. Is this fair? The problem is that most (?) Russians support Putin and believe the war is a great idea. How do we sort these two groups out?
While Europeans have to grapple with rude, nationalist Russians flipping-off Ukrainian war refugees, the US is largely immune to the problem. Being the object of deep hatred has some benefits: Russian Nationalist simply don’t come. Go Channel One News!
The American Government is quietly letting in thousands of Russians under the political asylum program. This strikes me as largely good. As I explained above, we simply don’t have the problem of Russian Nationalism. That’s probably wise on the Russian tourist part; I doubt they would find a pleasant welcome by draping themselves in a certain tri-color.
This brings us to the issue of Russians on the beaches of the Med, drinking in the sun and cold sparkling wine. The once proud Red Army are out raping Babushkas (Grand Mothers) while their families recline in the sea breeze. The Italians and the Turks in particular are happy to fetch their drinks and wipe their rich, pink butts. As you can already tell, I find the entire situation repugnant. I’m not really sure how to sort these two kinds of Russians out. But hey, not my problem.