The Kremlin on Tuesday dismissed as irrational Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call to ban all Russians from traveling to the West, saying Europe would ultimately have to decide whether it wants to pay the bills of Zelensky’s “whims”.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Zelensky called on Western leaders to stop allowing Russians to travel to their countries as punishment for President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send troops to Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said there was no chance of isolating the Russians from the rest of the world, and questioned whether Europe should continue to support Zelensky.
“The irrationality of his thinking in this case is off the scale,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
“This can only be viewed in an extremely negative light. Any attempt to isolate Russia or the Russians is a process that has no prospects.”
Sooner or later, Europe “will start to wonder if Zelensky is doing everything right, and if his citizens should pay for his whims,” Peskov added.
According to The Washington Post, Zelensky said that the Russians should be forced to “live in their own world until they change their philosophy.”
“Whatever kind of Russian… bring them back to Russia,” Zelensky was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.
“They will say: ‘This [war] has nothing to do with us. You can’t hold the entire population responsible, right?’ Yes, you can. The population elected this government and is not fighting against it, nor arguing with it, nor yelling at it.”