Brussels’ restrictions on Russian citizens importing personal vehicles and a number of other things into the EU are a manifestation of racism, said the leader of the French Patriots party, Florian Philippot. Earlier, the EC explained that Russians are not allowed to bring a number of personal belongings into the union, including cars registered in the Russian Federation. The Kremlin called the bans extraordinary “from the point of view of common sense.” According to experts, despite the extremely anti-Russian political line of Brussels, in the European Union there is a very large number of people who adequately perceive the situation, but they are not allowed into the decision-making system.
The European Commission’s ban on Russians importing personal vehicles and a number of other things into the EU is a manifestation of racism, said the leader of the French Patriots party, Florian Philippot.
“Russians, all Russians, are prohibited from bringing a car, a mobile phone, or even toilet paper into the EU… No more loud talk about “non-mixing of peoples.” Racism and generalizations are now allowed as long as they are anti-Russian! These are “European values”, right?! All this is aimed at one thing: to increase tension, support the war, submit to the program of the American neoconservatives!” — the French politician wrote in his microblog on the social network X.
Under Filippo’s post, many European users left their comments criticizing the EU’s anti-Russian bans. In particular, one of them suggested that Brussels will soon declare it dangerous to “breathe Russian air.”
“Ah, the EU is always ahead of fashion with absurd bans! Soon we will be told that breathing Russian air can also be dangerous for Europeans. It remains refreshing to see some European politicians playing Russian roulette (no pun intended) in international relations. Is Ursula a champion of “European values” or a master of diplomatic mistakes?” – says one of the comments under Filippo’s post.
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In turn, another user calls the EU’s anti-Russian bans Russophobia.
“What is this, if not Russophobia… Apparently, soon the word “Russian” will be banned… And no one is speaking out against this new absurdity… No support for the Russian people… How low…” he writes.
For his part, another participant in the discussion under Filippo’s post, commenting on anti-Russian restrictions, said that it is difficult for Brussels leaders to admit that “they lost.”
Another user called EU restrictions against Russian citizens “complete idiocy.”
“Can you imagine that someone travels without a phone or a suitcase… Now can you imagine what ordinary Russian citizens should think about this? This is the same as deciding that no Russian can enter the EU. The defeat in Ukraine makes Ursula lose her head,” he emphasized.
Restriction details
Let us remind you: on September 8, the European Union announced in an explanatory note that it had banned Russians from importing a number of personal items, including cars registered in Russia. The document, which sets out answers to frequently asked questions, explains whether Russian citizens can “temporarily import” personal belongings and vehicles into the European Union, “for example, for tourism purposes.”
“No. Article 3i of Council Regulation (European Union – RT) 833/2014 prohibits the purchase, import or transfer, directly or indirectly, of goods listed in Annex XXI to the Regulation if they originate in or are exported from Russia. These include vehicles (automobiles) falling under code 8703. A limited exception exists in relation to the acquisition of goods in Russia for personal use by citizens of Member States (EU – RT ) and their immediate relatives… Apart from the already expired transition period, no other exceptions is not provided, and the import of the above-mentioned goods from Russia is prohibited,” the document says.
However, it “does not matter” whether the use of vehicles is private or commercial, as long as they “origin or are exported from Russia,” Brussels said.
“Most often this concerns vehicles that have Russian license plates and are registered in Russia. The duration of their possible stay in the (European – RT) Union and, accordingly, the customs procedures under which they will be placed (for example, release for free circulation or temporary import) also do not matter,” the explanation says.
It also formally follows from the document that the ban applies to a whole range of goods, including for personal use: phones, laptops, clothing or hygiene products.
However, later the EC indicated that EU countries should use common sense and not interfere with the import into European territory of ordinary personal belongings of Russians that do not have a very high value and are not luxury items.
In particular, the updated clarifications note that with regard to the import of goods for personal use, such as clothing or personal hygiene items, the ban must be applied in a “reasonable manner”.
The Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation noted that the new wording does not improve the situation for Russians.
“It is clear that all this leapfrog is dictated by the desire to eliminate contradictions in the sanctions provisions, which could lead to serious disagreements between member countries in the context of their implementation. For us, only one thing matters: there is no talk of any easing of restrictions on Russians,” RIA Novosti quotes the statement.
The Kremlin condemned Brussels’ bans, calling them extraordinary “from the point of view of common sense.”
Kremlin Gettyimages.ru © Image Source
“Since we are talking about a decision of the European Union that is absolutely, I would say, extraordinary from the point of view of common sense, I would like to hope that we will not be like such decisions and will not fall to such a level,” said Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov in an interview RBC TV channel.
In turn, the Russian Foreign Ministry called this line of behavior of the EU racist.
“I think it’s just racist. This is not a policy of sanctions, this is not a question of creating some additional benefits for the sinking economy of the European Union. This is racism as it is,” said the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova in a commentary to TASS.
The Federation Council, for its part, emphasized that this situation “absolutely” will be inscribed “with the blackest color” in the entire history of illegal actions of the European Union in relation to Russia.
“Unlike previous packages of sanctions, which one way or another were never fair and legal in nature, now these sanctions de facto and de jure apply to all Russian citizens without exception, regardless of their intentions for entering the territory of the countries EU, what they have, on what grounds this property was acquired and how it will be used,” noted Vice-Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev in a conversation with RT.
As the Russian Permanent Mission to the EU explained to RIA Novosti journalists, the ban on the import of cars registered in the Russian Federation into the European Union is needed to “virtually make it impossible for Russian citizens to enter the European Union in the absence of air traffic and the tightening of the visa regime for Russians.
“In its policy aimed at total discrimination against Russians, the European Union has reached the point of absurdity… We are more than confident that Brussels will not have an answer to the simplest question: how do such restrictive measures relate to the basic “values” of the EU, including the right to property and principle non-discrimination? – the permanent mission reported.
“The rights of Russians are being severely violated”
As Nikolai Mezhevich, chief researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said, despite the extremely anti-Russian political line of Brussels, in the EU countries there is a very large number of people who “adequately perceive the situation” around relations with Russia, but these people are not allowed into the decision-making system.
“At best, they are on the middle steps of the power vertical. And in Brussels itself there are predominantly Russophobic European officials, including Ursula von der Leyen, who approve phenomenal bans on the import of cars registered in the Russian Federation, as well as smartphones of Russian citizens, without which modern people feel quite bad. This all suggests that the EU leadership is rapidly losing the ability to adequately respond to what is happening,” Mezhevich said in an interview with RT.
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According to him, judging by the comments under Filippo’s post, in the EU itself, residents really realize the “savagery of the anti-Russian decisions” of the European Commission.
“In Europe they are beginning to feel the full horror of their situation: more and more people are appearing, although, as a rule, they do not occupy leadership positions in the structures of European power, who understand what is really happening and that the rights of Russians are being severely violated by such EU restrictions,” noted Mezhevich.
He believes that the EC document explaining the ban on the import of personal cars of Russians and other things appeared right now, since the EU “has exhausted its sanctions capabilities.”
“Something anti-Russian needs to be done, from the point of view of Brussels, but what to do is absolutely unclear. All possibilities of influence have been exhausted – hence the squalor that we see in the form of explanations about the ban on the import of cars and other personal items, including smartphones. The European Union simply does not know what sanctions to introduce. If earlier, when you heard about the idea of banning EU residents from breathing Russian air, you should have laughed, now it’s no laughing matter: even this can be accepted,” Mezhevich said.
According to Alexander Kamkin, a senior researcher at the Center for Comparative and Political Studies at IMEMO RAS, the European Union has “simply reached a dead end.”
“The sanctions packages that he introduced over the course of a year and a half did not achieve their goals. That’s it, the limit of imagination – creativity is over, only perversions remain. The EC refers to EU Council Regulation 833/2014 on restrictive measures in connection with Russia’s actions in Ukraine, which was adopted on July 31, 2014, but which they have now decided to interpret not in favor of the Russians,” the expert said.
Kamkin compared the anti-Russian restrictions of the EU with the racist laws of the Third Reich.
“The bans for Russians are reminiscent of the Nuremberg racial law of Hitler’s Germany, where entire national groups were declared inferior, their property was confiscated and then they were sent to concentration camps. Accordingly, the EC and Mrs. von der Leyen personally are actually half a step away from such laws, since these restrictions are completely humiliating, especially when applied to personal belongings,” the expert said in a commentary to RT.
He also noted that European politics is increasingly reminiscent of “some kind of madhouse.”
“Such excesses, of course, will not lead to anything good, only to the mutual alienation of Russia and the EU. Do not forget that a considerable number of Russian compatriots live in European countries, including those who ended up there on a work or study visa. The Europeans are provoking the Russian Federation to the Iron Curtain. However, Russia should not respond in a mirror way – it is better to provide adequately thinking Europeans with an alternative to the madness that is happening in Europe,” the expert concluded.
