Halting a visa agreement , 2007, not going to cut it as the SVR and Russian spy agencies will use Russian tourists to spy when Russia in Ukraine war
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We need to consider how to target Putin’s false historical narratives at their very roots. One way to do this is to recognize, as Yale historian Timothy Snyder has said, that we need?more history and less memory. While it is an open question to what extent Russians themselves bear collective responsibility for Putin’s invasion, polls indicate that a clear majority of Russians do?support?the war. While exact figures remain elusive, many Russians have evidently bought into Putin’s views of history. With Russia becoming an increasingly closed and authoritarian country, where does that leave those of us who want to see accountability from the inside out?
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The fact is, that until there is some recognition by the Russian public as to the level of barbarity in Ukraine that having tourists from Russia does not pass the smell test
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It said three key bridges across the Dnipro River had been hit again to make sure they were impassable. In recent weeks, Ukraine has also been using US-supplied Himars precision rocket systems to target makeshift Russian pontoon bridges, as well as command posts and ammunition depots.
This is widely seen as part of a targeted effort to cut off Russian troops on the right (western) bank of the river, making it virtually impossible to send troops and weapons resupplies.
However, officials in Kyiv have been cautioning against any expectations of a quick win, describing the offensive as a slow grinding down of the enemy.
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AGAIN it is pure LUNACY to have Russian Tourists, cough, cough, when this face off with the Kherson battle field commences
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The suspension of the agreement is expected to significantly hinder the visa application process, making it much more expensive, burdensome and drawn-out?for Russian nationals planning to visit the bloc.
"It’s going to be more difficult and longer, and consequently the number of new visas will be substantially reduced," said Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, at the end of an informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Prague.
"This is a common approach and a common approach will prevent potential visa-shopping by Russians, going here and there, trying to [find] the best conditions."
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Do any of you ever recall references as to any discussions of Japanese tourists in Hawaii prior to December 7, 1941?
About the photography of US battle ships ? So useful in positioning them for attack by the Yamamoto air armada, December 7, 1941
It is beyond STUPID for any Russian tourists to be about in the Kherson battle faceoff
slam the DOOR SHUT
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Russia must be held accountable for committing genocide in Ukraine
By?Danielle Johnson
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Many observers believe the current war in Ukraine could have been avoided if Russia had earlier confronted its troubling past. There is no way to know for sure if this is true, but it remains a fact that nobody has ever been held accountable for the Soviet regime’s countless atrocities. It is equally true that Ukrainians were among the chief victims. Millions of Ukrainians perished in the genocidal man-made famine known as the Holodomor, which was engineered by the Kremlin in the 1930s.
Putin came to power in this culture of impunity and has used it to his advantage. Over the past two decades, he has rehabilitated the Soviet past and revived the glorification of Russia’s imperial identity, making it possible to challenge Ukraine’s very right to exist. For this reason, it is imperative that Putin and other key members of his regime now face a long overdue reckoning. But is such an outcome even possible?
The most obvious route to a reckoning is via international justice. Given the?massive scale of the crimes being committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, it is unclear what would be the best forum for prosecutions. Investigators from the International Criminal Court (ICC) are already investigating war crimes in Ukraine, while the UN Human Rights Council has established an Independent Commission of Inquiry. Meanwhile, the Ukrainians themselves have begun putting individual Russian soldiers?on trial. These efforts will probably result in war crimes prosecutions but it may be many years before key verdicts are delivered. It is also extremely unlikely that Putin himself will ever end up in the dock.
With these uncertainties in mind, we need to ask what true accountability would look like. Holding criminals accountable is meant to deter them and others from future crimes, foster reconciliation between perpetrators and victims, and promote sustainable peace. As Putin’s crimes are rooted in an historic failure to impose accountability, any legal punishments for the invasion of Ukraine would only go so far in accomplishing these goals. Prosecuting war criminals must go hand in hand with efforts to challenge the historical narrative that drove the invasion in the first place. This means confronting Russia’s imperial identity and addressing the toxic notion that Ukrainians have no right to exist as an independent nation.
If Russia is to be held accountable, the international community must do everything possible to ensure a Ukrainian military victory and the liberation of all occupied Ukrainian land. Following Russia’s defeat on the battlefield, Ukraine will need to receive credible security guarantees offering protection equivalent to NATO membership. Likewise, Western leaders should commit to making Russia pay reparations. Above all, the war must end on Ukraine’s terms. Any attempts to push Ukraine into accepting a compromise peace would be an affront to the country’s immense sacrifices and would also fly in the face of the need for accountability. It is vital that Russia publicly recognize its guilt and acknowledge the sanctity of Ukrainian sovereignty.
One way to achieve greater accountability is by empowering Ukrainians. The international community must work to support Ukrainian society in its efforts to hold Russia accountable. This support should include everything from technical assistance to helping local civil society systematically gather evidence and document atrocities. Ukraine has a functioning legal system but it does not have nearly enough capacity to cope with the volume of war crimes committed by Russian forces over the past six months. International assistance can make a big difference.
Ukraine’s international partners should also assist in the long quest to identify all the victims of Russia’s genocide. For the average Ukrainian, anger at Putin may be something of an abstraction. Indeed, while he is the individual most directly responsible for the invasion, he is neither the soldier who pulled the trigger nor the one who launched the bombs that destroyed civilian homes, hospitals, and schools. Like genocidaires throughout history, Putin’s intent is to destroy Ukrainian culture, language, and national identity, but he does not act alone. Recognizing each and every victim is an important step towards meaningful accountability for the crimes committed against the Ukrainian nation.
We need to consider how to target Putin’s false historical narratives at their very roots. One way to do this is to recognize, as Yale historian Timothy Snyder has said, that we need?more history and less memory. While it is an open question to what extent Russians themselves bear collective responsibility for Putin’s invasion, polls indicate that a clear majority of Russians do?support?the war. While exact figures remain elusive, many Russians have evidently bought into Putin’s views of history. With Russia becoming an increasingly closed and authoritarian country, where does that leave those of us who want to see accountability from the inside out?
Here, we need to think beyond the immediate term. “Canceling” Russian culture is not necessarily the answer, but amplifying Ukrainians and their culture absolutely is. Getting their stories to Russians is critical, whether through technologies like VPNs or by supporting the Russian investigative journalists who have fled the country but are continuing their courageous work while based outside Russia.
Here in the West, we can work to advance public awareness, both of today’s Russian genocide and of historic Soviet crimes. This means making sure we document them in history books, teach them in schools, memorialize the victims in public places, and even recognize our own complicity in ignoring past events like the Soviet-era Holodomor famine in Ukraine.
Putin and his regime must face legal punishment for the genocidal invasion of Ukraine. But in order to achieve meaningful accountability, we must also address the unrepentant imperialism that makes it possible to dehumanize Ukrainians and destroy entire Ukrainian cities. This will require a long-term approach to historical justice that goes beyond the courtroom and seeks to strengthen every aspect of Ukrainian statehood while fundamentally challenging the way Russians view their own past.
Danielle Johnson holds a PhD in Politics from Oxford University and specializes in Russian and Ukrainian affairs.
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Whereas
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Kherson: 'Heavy fighting' as Ukraine seeks to retake Russian-held region
By Yaroslav Lukov
BBC News
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Fierce battles have been reported as Ukraine tries to retake the Russian-occupied southern Kherson region - but military experts have told the BBC it "won't happen quickly".
"Heavy fighting is continuing, our soldiers are working around the clock," said Vitaliy Kim, who heads the neighbouring Mykolaiv region.
Ukraine earlier said it had broken through Russia's first line of defence.
But Russia said Ukrainian troops had been defeated during a failed attack.
The defence ministry in Moscow also said there had been heavy casualties among the Ukrainian forces, but the claims by both Ukraine and Russia have not been independently verified.
Kherson became the first major Ukrainian city to fall into Russian hands in the opening days of Moscow's invasion that began on 24 February.
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Top Ukrainian military officials have been tight-lipped about giving too many details about its reported counter-offensive, urging the wider public to be patient.
On Tuesday, Ukraine's Operational Command "South" reported that "positional battles" continued.
It said three key bridges across the Dnipro River had been hit again to make sure they were impassable. In recent weeks, Ukraine has also been using US-supplied Himars precision rocket systems to target makeshift Russian pontoon bridges, as well as command posts and ammunition depots.
This is widely seen as part of a targeted effort to cut off Russian troops on the right (western) bank of the river, making it virtually impossible to send troops and weapons resupplies.
However, officials in Kyiv have been cautioning against any expectations of a quick win, describing the offensive as a slow grinding down of the enemy.
Several military experts interviewed by the BBC seem to agree with this.
"The long-term trend is the gradual weakening of the Russian military capability and the gradual strengthening of the Ukrainian capability with Western help," said Sir Alex Younger, a former head of Britain's MI6 Secret Intelligence Service.
He said the Kherson counter-offensive was "all about the urge of Ukraine to demonstrate they can get on the front foot and in turn underpin the resolve of Ukraine and its backers into what is going to be a difficult winter".
Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) defence think tank, told the BBC he believed Ukraine would continue with strikes using Himars as they were proving so successful at cutting off Russian supply lines.
Moving forward, though, Mr Bronk said he expected to see more of an "attritional strategy" by Ukraine, "pushing [Russia] on a broad front, trying to force Russian morale to break and inflict casualties".
Meanwhile, Ukrainian military expert Mykhaylo Zhyrokhov told the BBC: "We shouldn't be expecting a cavalry attack, because the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces doesn't want street fighting [in the Kherson city] - that would result in heavy casualties."
"The Ukrainian strategy is to squeeze the enemy out," he said, warning that this "won't happen quickly".
"It's like a situation with a cornered rat that needs to be offered a way out. Ukraine's military should aim to provide the Russian troops with such a withdrawal route, otherwise [the Russians troops] would be fighting until the last soldier."
"The window of opportunity is until mid-October because after that the mainly field roads in the region will become impassable" because of mud and slush, Mr Zhyrokhov said.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the US state department told reporters on Tuesday that senior Russian officials have been tasked with organising an annexation referendum in Kherson.
Sergei Kiriyenko, a top adviser to President Putin, was overseeing efforts to hold a poll "in the coming weeks," Vedant Patel said.
"The sham referenda will attempt to give a veneer of legitimacy to a blatant land grab that would violate the Ukrainian constitution and international law," Mr Patel added.
Elsewhere, in his nightly address Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that intense fighting has been taking place in the eastern Donbas and Kharkiv regions.
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Whereas
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EU foreign ministers agree to scrap Russia visa deal but stop short of full tourist ban?COMMENTS
By?Jorge Liboreiro?????Updated:?31/08/2022 -?18:30
The issue of visa for Russian tourists featured high on the agenda of the ministerial meeting in Prague.???-???Copyright??Petr David Josek/Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
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The European Union has decided to fully suspend a 2007 visa agreement?with Russia and intensify scrutiny over the future applications submitted by Russian tourists.
The political decision, taken in response to the invasion of Ukraine, falls short of the outright visa ban advocated by countries neighbouring Russia and receiving visitors by land.
The suspension of the agreement is expected to significantly hinder the visa application process, making it much more expensive, burdensome and drawn-out?for Russian nationals planning to visit the bloc.
"It’s going to be more difficult and longer, and consequently the number of new visas will be substantially reduced," said Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, at the end of an informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Prague.
"This is a common approach and a common approach will prevent potential visa-shopping by Russians, going here and there, trying to [find] the best conditions."
Passports issued by Russian authorities inside the occupied territories of Ukraine will not be recognised across EU territory, the diplomat added.
Ministers also tasked the European Commission with looking into possible ways to tackle the estimated 12 million visas issued to Russian citizens that are still in circulation.
Borrell had personally opposed the total ban against Russian citizens, arguing the bloc needed to be "more selective" and leave the door open for those attempting to flee Vladimir Putin's regime.
"We don’t want to cut ourselves from those Russians who are against the war in Ukraine," he said.
Germany, France, Portugal and Spain took similar positions against the unprecedented measure.
On the other side, a group of Eastern and Northern countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark, Poland and the Czech Republic, joined forces to introduce far-reaching EU-wide action that would suspend or drastically reduce the issuance of visas for Russians.
In their view, the Russian population overwhelmingly supports President Putin and, by extension, the occupation that he decided to launch against Ukraine.
"Normal tourism should not continue as business as usual," said Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister Pekka Haavisto on Wednesday morning.
Finland has already slashed by 90% the number of visas for Russian nationals. The country has seen cases of Russian tourists who cross the 1,300-kilometre-long land border to then travel to Finnish airports and fly to warmer EU destinations.
Data from Frontex, the EU's border control agency, shows that, since the Ukraine war broke out in late February, nearly a million Russian citizens have legally entered the bloc via land, mostly through the Nordic and Baltic states.
People-to-people contacts
When it comes to tourism, EU countries can issue their own national visas, designed for a short stay inside just one country, and?Schengen visas, which enable travel across the passport-free Schengen Area.
Because Schengen is a borderless zone, the issuance of this kind of visa requires a decision agreed upon by all member states. (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Cyprus and Ireland remain outside Schengen.)
The 2007 facilitation agreement was meant to give preferential treatment to Russian requests.
Some countries had previously taken steps to unilaterally halt or limit the number of visas for Russian nationals, with exceptions for family reunion, diplomatic affairs and humanitarian assistance.
"It’s our national competence, under the principle of national security, to decide the issues of entry into our [country],"?said Estonian Foreign Affairs Minister Urmas Reinsalu.
Borrell noted the influx of Russian visitors, which increased during summer, posed a "security risk" for neighbouring countries and could require extra action on their side.
"The situation in the border has become challenging," he said. "These countries can take measures at national level to restrict entry into the EU through their borders, always in conformity with Schengen [rules]."
Although the idea for the outright visa ban came from the East, it gained traction in recent days and attracted support from other governments, including the Netherlands.
"While people-to-people contacts are important, now we see primarily rich Russians coming to Europe for shopping," said Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister?Wopke Hoekstra.
"This is not a good idea. It does make sense to limit this kind of travel."
But the growing calls in favour of the ban bumped into?the joint opposition of Germany and France, the EU's largest and most powerful countries.
"While understanding the concerns of some member states in this context we should not underestimate the transformative power of experiencing life in democratic systems at first hand, especially for future generations," the two nations wrote in a document.
"Our visa policies should reflect that and continue to allow for people-to-people contacts in the EU with Russian nationals not linked to the Russian government."
Spain and Portugal also took a more balanced position, insisting on penalising "Russia's war machine" rather than its ordinary citizens.
The decision announced on Wednesday is just a political agreement and will have to be thrashed out and rubberstamped at a later stage so it can enter into force.
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Andrew Beckwith, PhD