Secretary-General of the European Commission Ilze Juhansone and Secretary-General of the External Action Service Stefano Sannino jointly summoned Ambassador of Russian Federation to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov on Monday to condemn the decision of the Russian authorities from last Friday to ban eight European Union nationals from entering the territory of the Russian Federation.
That was reported by the European Union External Action on May 3, 2021.
"Ambassador Chizhov was informed of the strong rejection and firm condemnation by the EU institutions and EU Member States of this decision, which was purely politically motivated and lacks any legal justification," reads the report.
Read alsoUkraine expresses solidarity with EU nationals banned from entering Russia – MFAIt is noted Secretaries-General I. Juhansone and S. Sannino also recalled Russia's expulsion of Czech diplomats and the executive order of the Russian Federation of so called "unfriendly states," expressing their grave concern for the cumulative impact of all these decisions on the relations between the EU and the government of the Russian Federation.
They also noted that the EU reserves the right to take appropriate measures in response.
Background
- On April 30, 2021, Russia imposed an entry ban on President of the European Parliament David Sassoli, Berlin chief state prosecutor Jörg Raupach, and six other citizens of EU nations.
- Russia also blacklisted chairman of Latvia's E-media Council Ivars Āboliņš; chief of Latvia's State Language Center Māris Baltiņš; member of the French delegation to PACE Jacques Maire; chief of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Protection and Security Division at the Swedish Defense Research Agency Asa Scott; Director General of Estonia's Language Inspectorate Ilmar Tomusk; and Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova.
