The European Union should ban Russian tourists, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday, urging a step the bloc's foreign ministers gathered in Prague are unlikely to take due to deep divisions on the matter, APA reports citing Reuters.
Kuleba also proposed a program in which Russian soldiers who surrendered would be rewarded with "a new life", though he did not say where.
Eastern and Nordic countries strongly back a tourism ban, while Germany and France have warned their peers it would be counter-productive, saying ordinary Russians should still be allowed access to the West.
The EU ministers are expected to agree in principle on suspending a visa facilitation agreement with Moscow - meaning Russians would have to wait longer, and pay more, for visas - but not on an outright EU travel ban.
"The time for half-measures is gone," Kuleba told Reuters before meeting with the EU ministers, asking them to go further. "Only a tough and consistent policy can produce results."
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