Belgians will no longer be able to enter Russia, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's statement on Monday, as the Kremlin acts to limit access to those living in states declared as ‘unfriendly’.
The move is seen as a tit-for-tat retaliation to the travel restrictions imposed by the West after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These new measures affect the EU, UK, US, Australia, Japan, South Korea and others.
“A draft presidential decree is being developed on retaliatory visa measures in response to the unfriendly actions of a number of foreign states,” Lavrov said on Russian television. “This act will introduce a number of restrictions on entry into Russia,” he added without elaborating.
Russian carriers have already been banned from the EU’s airspace, and travel to Russia is limited in both the UK and the US.
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Unfriendly countries
Russia included Belgium in its list of ‘unfriendly’ countries earlier this month after it approved a list of foreign states and territories that “commit unfriendly actions against Russia, its companies, and citizens.”
This decree allows the Russian state, companies, and citizens to pay their debts to these countries in roubles, the Russian currency, which has been devalued heavily since the war started.
The new temporary procedure applies to payments of more than 10 million roubles (€66,339, according to current rates) per month, or to a comparable amount in foreign currency.
