Russia does not need to close its borders and collectively punish European Union (EU) citizens in response to Schengen visa restrictions, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with students and teaching staff at MGIMO University on Thursday, TASS reports.
"We will not become self-isolated. I believe that we do not need to take tit-for-tat measures and collectively punish citizens of European countries in response to these Schengen walls that they are trying to put up for us," Russia’s top diplomat said.
"We have our ‘favorites’ entered into the sanctions lists," he added.
As Russia’s top diplomat pointed out, "the West will spend days and nights discussing whom to issue Schengen visas to, how many times to question an individual upon entry to the Schengen area, with whom he sides: the reds or the whites, and inquire three times about Crimea’s affiliation."
"This is ludicrous and these people are miserable. We should not embark on this pathway and respond foolishly to a foolish thing. Of course, reciprocity exists and it needs to be used purposefully against the instigators, masterminds and perpetrators of such anti-Russian sanctions," the foreign minister stressed.
