German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he could hardly imagine stopping the issuance of Schengen visas to Russians. He stressed that it is not ordinary Russians who are responsible for the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, but the authorities.

According to him, if the sanctions were directed against everyone, "including the innocent", it would weaken their effectiveness.

Earlier today, Estonia decided to close its borders to Russian citizens with Schengen visas issued by the republic, with some exceptions, the Foreign Ministry said .

Exceptions will be made for:

• embassy staff,
• international transport workers,
• people who will have humanitarian reasons,
• people visiting relatives.

On August 8, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Western countries should ban all Russians from entering their territory. In his opinion, this is how the West can prevent Russia from annexing the territory of Ukraine.