The "Iron Curtain" returns: Russia wants to restrict ordinary citizens' ability to travel abroad
Kyiv • UNN
Russia is preparing an appeal to the State Duma regarding a ban on travel to NATO countries, so that Russians do not "finance Ukraine." Exceptions are provided for officials, their families, and those who can afford medical treatment abroad.
In Russia, under the pretext of security and "patriotism," an appeal is being prepared for the State Duma with a proposal to ban citizens from traveling to NATO countries. Thus, according to the initiators of the appeal, Russians will not spend money on tours and will not "finance Ukraine," writes UNN with reference to the head of the National Security and Defense Council's Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko.
Details
In the Russian Federation, they are again talking about an "iron curtain." Under the pretext of security and "patriotism," an appeal is being prepared for the State Duma with a proposal to ban citizens from traveling to NATO countries. Allegedly, this way Russians will not spend money on tours and will not "finance Ukraine."
He also added that exceptions are still provided for some categories of the population: for officials, their families, and those who can afford treatment abroad. The rest will face closed airports, expensive tickets, and domestic tourism in the style of North Korea.
In the first half of 2025, Russians made 13.7 million trips abroad, almost 19% of them to Turkey, which is also a NATO member. The Kremlin sees these figures well but decides to limit not its oligarchs with villas in Europe, but ordinary people who just wanted to fly for a vacation.
"The curtain" is already falling. And in Moscow, they call it caring for citizens.
Addition
In Russia, a new stage of tax burden on citizens and businesses is beginning, designed to cover the budget deficit due to the war. The tax increase will affect everyone and demonstrates the Kremlin's priorities, aimed at financing military needs at the expense of social programs.
Russia has introduced new rules for controlling bloggers: all Telegram channels with more than 10,000 subscribers, including those in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, must connect a "Roskomnadzor" bot, which gains full access to content and audience.