Zelensky: Ban Russian Travelers

[Lamaris 73]

7 minutes ago, JRCF29 said:

I disagree that these sources adequately support the claim that it is widely acceptable to call for the murder of Russians. From your first listed source (Reuters): "We still won't allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians," A Meta spokesperson said in a statement. Calling for a military victory is substantially different than calling for the murder of Russians writ large

This is how it started. And if you use social networks, you will find constant support for comments calling for violence against Russians. Especially on Twitter. Not Russians, Orcks as they are now called.

[Dennis 8,391]

16 hours ago, alfio said:

This is idiotic and would even amplify the Russian narrative that the west were never friendly towards Russia to average Russians.

You would be surprised that the current isolation 'tactics' Europe and US is pulling is making Putin's approval ratings skyrocket.

While were at it, maybe it's time we recognize the Zelensky the world knew before the "special operations" started; and that there are actual liberal Russians residing West currently being hated by the average Westerners and the Russian government before the world becomes how it treated the Japanese and the Italians all over again. Everybody, stay cautious.

Make no mistake. Russia deserves collective punishment. Make no doubt about that. And even good russians will understand that it's only fair to sanction Russia. It doesn't matter whether everyone supports Putin or not. There is collective responsibility for what's happening. And by the way, Putin's poll numbers will skyrocket with or without the ban on Russian tourists. It reached over 80% when he annexed Crimea.

My only issue with a blanket ban on Russians, is that it'll make it difficult for potential asylum seekers and people who want to escape from Putin regime to succeed in leaving the country. So I would like to see exceptions in that regard. That's why a more reasonable solution would be to ban people who are known to be supportive of the war and/or Putin.

[Dennis 8,391]

3 hours ago, TortureMeOnReplay said:

I think you can blame Zelensky. It comes off as a hate towards Russians because they're Russians. Segregating people based on their background alone has NEVER ended well, ever. We've seen that some of Russia's own soldiers don't know what's going on or want to do it. So our solution is to cut them off more and put them into more of a bubble? Enforce the propaganda that everybody discriminates against Russia? It's short sighted, discriminatory, and very World War behavior of them. 

What you, me and everyone else fail to understand from the comfort of our security and safety, is that Ukrainians don't feel the same. Ukrainians have been largely abandoned to defend themselves on their own. They've seen their relatives die, be raped as young as 9 year old, be mutilitated, castrated (yes there are even videos). So they feel anger.

They feel anger that russians aren't doing enough to stop this. There is a collective responsibility for sure. Yes some russians tried protesting. But they remained a very slim minority in the country. The big majority of russians are either supportive of Putin or completely indifferent non-chalant to what's happening in Ukraine. Russia is a country with nuclear weapons, no country will be able to stop it. Only Russian people can stop this madness. And so far they've shown little will to do so. I don't blame ukrainians for feeling this anger. You'd never know how it feels until it happens to you. And for them being denied a tourist visa is much less of an inconvenience than seeing your mom die in front of your eyes. It's easy to virtue-signal and claim this is discriminatory but it's not easy for ukrainians to forget and forgive the collective responsibility of russians in this ongoing massacre.

[PartySick 174,100]

Putin is a dictator. Propaganda, media control, the threat of violence or prison time aside, even if someone truly supports him they shouldn't be barred from travel unless they're deemed dangerous.

If so, then we need to also ban every American who's ever voted for president from leaving the US. Ban every Israeli who's ever even hinted at supporting the genocide in Palestine from travelling. Ban every European who is from a country where the effects of their colonization and interference into other countries' sovereignty is still well apparent.

19 minutes ago, Dennis said:

And for them being denied a tourist visa is much less of an inconvenience than seeing your mom die in front of your eyes. It's easy to virtue-signal and claim this is discriminatory but it's not easy for ukrainians to forget and forgive the collective responsibility of russians in this ongoing massacre.

You cannot lay this at the feet of the Russian citizens. That'd be like coming up to me with the body of a dead immigrant from Central America or rubble from a destroyed school in the Middle East and saying "THIS IS YOUR FAULT" when it damn well wasn't.

Travel bans are about safety. You use them when terrorism spikes or if an infectious disease is spreading. Russian tourists are not a threat.

And the people that say an action like this would play right into Putin's plan are absolutely right. So if Zelensky wants to further galvanize the Kremlin's propaganda, he can keep pushing this idea. I just hope no one listens to it.