Moscow on Tuesday banned entry to 347 citizens of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia over what it called the “hostile policy” of the three Baltic states toward Russia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the governments of the three Baltic states of interfering in its domestic affairs and “persecuting” their Russian-speaking populations in the announcement published on its website.
It also said the Baltic countries were waging “a barbaric campaign for the mass demolition of monuments to Soviet soldiers-liberators, rewriting history, glorifying Nazism,” as well as “pumping up the Kyiv regime with weapons.”
“These atrocities demand retaliatory measures against those involved,” the Foreign Ministry’s statement continued.
Among those added to the so-called “stop list” were Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Lithuania’s top military chief General Valdemaras Rupsys and Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina, as well as other government officials and politicians.
In February, Russia announced that it “significantly” expanded an entry ban for European officials in response to the EU’s “illegal and unfriendly” sanctions on the eve of the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry did not specify the number of EU officials affected by its retaliatory entry ban, nor did it provide their names.
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