Moscow Calls EU Decision On Visas For Residents Of New Russian Regions 'Segregation'

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st December, 2022) Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday accused the European Union of adopting inhumane sanctions and "a policy of segregation" due to a decision not to grant Schengen visas to Russian citizens living in the country's newly joined regions and Crimea.

On December 8, the Council of the European Union decided not to recognize Russia's foreign passports issued in the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, Sevastopol and Crimea, as well as the breakaway states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The decision will go into effect on Thursday, December 22.

"Such a policy of segregation is nothing more than direct interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, once again demonstrating the European Union's true hostile intentions toward our country and its citizens," Zakharova said in a statement published by the ministry.

The spokeswoman added that most EU member states refused to accept foreign passports issued to Russian citizens living in Crimea and Sevastopol even before the start of the country's special military operation in Ukraine.

"From now on, this discriminatory practice, which grossly violates international law, has become part of the legislation of the European Union and the associated states of the Schengen area � Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland," Zakharova said.

In particular, the EU's policy violates the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, certain provisions of the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the bloc's obligations to ensure freedom of movement in accordance with the 1975 Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, according to Zakharova.

"As conceived by the authors of this policy, Russian citizens must be 'punished' for their democratic choice in favor of Russia. The inhumanity of these visa 'sanctions' is in the fact that they are introduced on a collective basis and are aimed at creating deliberately biased conditions for the consideration of visa files," the spokeswoman said.

At the same time, recent years have showed that sanctions pressure and discrimination cannot change the will of people who have made "an unambiguous and irrevocable decision to return to their homeland," Zakharova added.

"The real result of these short-sighted actions will be the further loss by the European Union of its weight in international affairs. For our part, we will continue to use all available opportunities to protect the interests of our citizens and ensure their legal rights," she said.

From September 23-27, the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions held referendums and voted for the accession to Russia. On September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the four regions signed agreements on the accession of the territories to the country.