UPDATE - Top EU diplomat voices opposition to tourist visa ban for Russians

ADDS MORE QUOTES FROM BORRELL

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) – The European Union foreign policy chief on Monday came out in opposition to a complete EU ban on Russian tourist visas.

“Banning all Russians from entering the EU for whatever reason isn’t a good idea. We need to be more selective,” Josep Borrell said during a discussion on geopolitics at Menendez Pelayo International University in Santander, Spain.

He admitted that the EU has been too permissive with "oligarchs" in the past, particularly by granting them “golden passports” or visas in exchange for investments.

“We need to ban collaborators with the Putin regime in the EU. But there are a lot of Russians who want to leave their country because they do not want to live in Putin’s Russia,” he said.

Borrell, a former Spanish foreign minister, estimated that around 300,000 Russians have already emigrated due to the war on Ukraine.

Borrell added that a ban on tourist visas is highly divisive and criticized EU leaders for bringing it up for public debate before discussing it behind closed doors.

In recent weeks, officials from countries including Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Denmark, Norway, Poland, and Lithuania -- most bordering Russia -- have come out in support of the idea of an EU-wide tourist visa ban for all Russians.

Estonia has already stopped issuing Schengen visas to Russians.

Meanwhile, Germany and other nations including Greece have said they are against the measure, which is also supported by Kyiv.

EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss the tourist visa ban at a meeting in Prague at the end of August.

- 'EU to pay price for supporting Ukraine'

Whether or not that measure passes, Borrell said that the EU will have to pay the price for supporting Ukraine in the war, particularly when it comes to energy.

“Gas prices in Europe are 10 times higher than a year ago, and futures anticipate that the prices will continue climbing,” he said.

“We’ve reduced our reliance on Russian gas, but it’s still around 20% of European imports. Yes, we’ll have to adapt if Russia cuts off gas, but it won’t be the end of the world.

"We can continue functioning with restrictions like colder homes or not driving as fast. But helping Ukraine isn’t an act of generosity. If Putin wins this war, you think there won’t be geopolitical consequences for everyone?”

However, he said some EU countries are already in favor of removing Russian sanctions altogether “and while they may not say it out loud, some countries are thinking about stopping military aid to Ukraine.”

Describing Russia as a “big gas station with nuclear bombs,” Borrell said the sanctions are already working, particularly in terms of cutting Russia off from the technology it needs to “build its war machine.”

He said those technologies could come from China, but that China has so far resisted sending Russia military aid.

What China and Russia have in common, said Borrell, is that they are both trying to rebuild the world order. However, he said China’s situation is dramatically different than Russia’s, which could make conflict less likely.

“China is the world’s banker, and it holds almost $1 trillion in US sovereign debt. The two countries are so entangled that neither is interested in bankrupting the other. They are rivals, but during the Cold War, there wasn’t any relationship like this. A decoupling wouldn’t be so easy,” he said.

The EU diplomat argued for “strategic ambiguity” around China and Taiwan and ruled out a personal visit to Taipei like that of US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

“In a way, international politics is the administration of double standards,” Borrell said.