In a statement on Thursday, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said she did not support the decision on the grounds that Russians wishing to leave their country were at heightened danger.
“Obviously what we’re doing is working, but we need to do more,” Joly told reporters in a Thursday phone call from New York. Radio Canada, Friday (23/9). He referred to the onslaught of success of Western countries in helping Ukraine.
He argued that Putin’s regime was becoming desperate and that would pose a risk to his dissidents. Thus, according to him, there is no need to restrict visas for those who are going to leave Russia.
Joly rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s demands for Western countries to stop issuing visas to Russia.
“There are Russian soldiers who are basically ready to defy the authorities, and who are leaving their ranks, and they are fleeing the battlefields in Ukraine,” Joly said.
“There are a lot of Russians who want to leave Russia,” Joly added, saying the visa ban was unfair to people who disagreed with Moscow.
The Russian Embassy has criticized visa restrictions imposed by some Western countries. In this case, the Embassy agrees with Canada, but in its rights as a citizen wishing to travel.
“Here we can agree with Minister Joly that the visa ban is a policy of collective punishment,” said Artem Kalabukhov, political counselor at the Russian Embassy in Ottawa.
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