“Iron Curtain 2.0” or European Self Insulation

Last week, the countries of the European Union – with difficulty and without any sign of unity – agreed on the need to issue visas to certain categories of Russians. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, limping on both feet, presented this decision as a confirmation of the sacred right of European states to independently regulate the admission of Russians into the Schengen area. The advantages of imposing such restrictions for the EU are of course not on the practical level, their aim is to create another artificial picture that makes the headlines in the Western media. To show how dependent an ordinary Russian is on European bureaucrats, to convince the EU officials that this Russian, whose image is in the minds of EU officials, wants only one thing – to go to Europe at any cost, while Europe, on the contrary, does not want that. seeing him at home.

However, in reality, the suspension of the visa regime agreement is of minimal importance to the average Russian. First, statistics report that less than a third of Russians have a passport. Secondly, our compatriots, who often or at least occasionally visit EU countries during the pandemic years, have learned to do without such trips.

Maybe the EU wanted to create targeted problems for the wealthy Russian category? Again, an increase in the fee, the timing of the paperwork, as well as a number of additional requirements for the timing and purpose of the trip will not pose a noticeable problem for Russians with real estate or residence permits in the EU.

But with the overtly aggressive actions of the Baltic states, as well as Poland and Finland – again due to Western sanctions – aggravated by the lack of direct communication between Russia and the EU, such a policy would stumble upon the already complex scientific problems. Professional, cultural and business relations between Russian and EU citizens. How many Russian and European doctors from various fields, as well as teachers, university professors, academic scientists met and personally communicated on the most important issues for their work – and how many will there be now? Such a policy will also bring some inconvenience to family communication, because Russian families have the closest ties with the German, Italian, French diasporas, and in every European country we have compatriots whose usual ties can become unpleasantly complicated today.

Assuming that the purpose of visa manipulations is to try to make regular Russian visits to Europe a kind of privilege in order to divide and oppose citizens in Russia, this approach is doomed to failure. In our society, it only provokes irritation towards European authorities. And since the initiators of such manipulations were certainly not Russian officials, but strictly European politicians, their actions only allow us to recall the archaic empires and their inhabitants, from Ancient Egypt to Babylon, who considered themselves “the chosen one of the gods.” other countries – “barbarians”. These mental problems, taken from the depths of the tribal memories of EU politicians in Russia, only provoke a keen desire not to include an item about visiting European countries in their vacation schedules.

On the contrary, looking at the state and business world oriented to the East, the ordinary Russian turns to the same place. The West is no longer the center of the world: there are many places in Russia that you want to visit, and if you choose other countries, then China, India, Turkey, ASEAN countries, Central Asia, the Persian Gulf or North Africa are new and very attractive areas to us.

So why did the EU countries, led by the leading countries of the anti-Russian avant-garde, start these little-respected manipulations? There seems to be a fairly definite domestic political goal here – to try to reduce the Europeans’ contact with the Russians as much as possible, to deprive them of the opportunity to see what Russia really is today, to stop the spread of ideas about Russia. Our country as a truly working alternative development model, undesirable for EU politicians. And most importantly, to prevent at all costs personal communication between like-minded people who represent the intellectual elite of our societies.

It turns out that EU countries revived Iron Curtain 2.0 not for Russia, but for themselves and manually downloaded it. Considering that Europe is becoming more and more distant from its original cultural traditions and values, which has occurred against the background of a significant decline in living standards, the policy of the European authorities signals its depressingly rapid transformation towards an aggressive society. . Their values, unfortunately, are not even close to the ideals of the Enlightenment.

Facing these self-destructive acts of Europe, Russia will not shut down in reaction and punish ordinary EU citizens with alienation. We will wait calmly until the political infantilism of European politicians, under the pressure of objective reality, finally compels them to make adult decisions.

The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.