DISINFO: Western restrictions againts Russian citizens are racist
SUMMARY
The European Union imposed restrictions on Russian citizens driving into the EU. There are no exact rules, so each member state applies this regulation the way it likes. Racism has always been the West’s essence, substituting true and traditional values and foundations of Western civilisation. Russia is preserving these values, while the Westerners are eradicating them, for example by refusing to wipe out such phenomena as racism.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets accusing the EU, the US and their partners of Russophobia and racism. This claim was made in the context of the EU sanctions regime on Russia and efforts from the EU to limit circumvention of the restrictive measures.
Attempts to frame these measures as racist are a relatively new, while there has been a concerted effort from pro-Kremlin outlets to undermine the legitimacy of EU and international sanctions since they were first imposed. See here for examples from our own database.
As for the specific claims in this article, these are not new measures, but rather recently published guidance on the application of existing rules with a view to limiting sanction circumvention. Specifically:
"motor vehicles are a category of goods prone to circumvention, hence national competent authorities need to pay particular attention to them. It is not relevant whether the use of the vehicles is private or commercial as long as the vehicles are falling under a CN code listed in Annex XXI (e.g. CN code 8703) and are originating in or are being exported from Russia. This is most likely the case for vehicles having a Russian license plate and are registered in Russia."
As for the claim concerning personal care products, the guidance specifies that "[F]or goods which raise insignificant circumvention concerns, like personal hygiene items or clothing worn by travelers or contained in their luggage and clearly destined for a strict personal use during their trip, national competent authorities should continue to apply the prohibition in a proportionate and reasonable manner."
Since the launch of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Council has adopted 11 packages of sanctions. The sanctions have crippled Russian economy and are expected to lead to more tangible results. Sanctions include targeted restrictive measures (individual sanctions), economic sanctions and visa measures. The aim of the economic sanctions is to impose severe consequences on Russia for its actions and to effectively thwart Russian abilities to continue the aggression. The sanctions target Russian companies, individuals, goods or services. They are not aimed at ordinary Russians.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Ukraine is the world's main hot bed of neo-Nazism, that Anglo-Saxons are racist; the Russian civilisation’s superior value is fairness, and that Russophobia and neo-Nazism the norm in the Baltic states and Ukraine.