PRAGUE -- Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu has called on his 26 European Union counterparts to ban tourist visas to Russians over the war in Ukraine, saying failing to take such a strong measure was to compromise "with evil."
Reinsalu and the rest of the bloc's foreign ministers are in the Czech capital from August 30 for an informal two-day meeting where the visa regime for Russians looking to enter the EU will take center stage.
Some members say the matter of limiting visas to Russians would be counterproductive as the EU tries to fight for the "hearts and minds" of those Russians who don't support Moscow's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine.
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But Estonia's top diplomat said that was the wrong way to look at the situation.
"We have to do everything to pressure Russian society.... They also have to wake up. There is also their moral responsibility that their passivity is in a way legitimizing these atrocities that have taken place by the regime against the Ukrainian people," he told RFE/RL in an interview in Prague on August 30.
"We have to act immediately and show our determination to our adversary that our willpower is stronger than Russian willpower.... [Are] we compromising with evil, or with the war in Ukraine?" he added.
Countries that share borders with Russia -- the Baltic states, Poland, and Finland -- have led the drive for more restrictive bans on visas for Russian tourists. With air service barred by the EU on flights from Russia, most travelers are using their land borders to travel to other EU countries.
Reinsalu said that even with several rounds of crippling sanctions against Russia already being imposed, the bloc must "ramp up" its efforts to isolate Moscow and bring the conflict, which is now in its seventh month, to an end.
"These are not just punitive sanctions because Russia did something and let's discipline Russia. No. The aim of sanctions is that the aggressor will [see] that the price tag is too high, and he will avoid further aggression and we stop its war," he said.
"This is actually the end because only one person can stop the war. And it's [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," he added, noting that the length of the war will also depend on the West's willpower to stay united and make the tough choices that are necessary to make Russia halt its attack.
Estonia recently raised Moscow's ire after it removed a Soviet-era monument in a region with a sizable ethnic Russian majority.
A day later, it said it was targeted by "the most extensive cyberattacks since 2007," and Reinsalu said more could be on the way, though the country is ready.
In the end, Reinsalu said that the only acceptable outcome to the entire situation was Russia's complete defeat and Putin facing a war crimes panel.
"We need Russia [to] lose the war," he said.
