MPs from several parties have objected to the CDU/CSU's move to deny Russians tourist visas to enter the EU in the future.
Green Party leader Omid Nouripour said that instead of locking out all Russians, greater efforts must be made to stop those who actively supported Russian ruler Vladimir Putin from traveling to the European Union.
Johannes Leithauser
Political correspondent in Berlin.
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Russians need a visa to enter the EU, which must be issued by one of the 26 member states, but is then valid throughout the European Schengen area.
The Baltic States and the Czech Republic no longer issue tourist visas in their Russian missions, but Russians with Schengen visas from other EU countries can still travel to these EU member countries.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had already expressed his opposition to such visa restrictions last week.
The FDP MP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann also opposed the required restrictions, pointing out that tourist visas also allow those Russians who “want to escape Putin’s system” to leave the country.
The foreign policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Ulrich Lechte, also argued against restrictions;
he said "total lockdown and suspension of travel would be easy for Russian propaganda".
This could put the West in the pillory.
The CDU MP Philipp Amthor told the broadcaster n-tv that the Russian people should not be punished collectively.
The deputy leader of the Union faction Andrea Lindholz, on the other hand, campaigned for a visa boycott in the "Bild" newspaper: "Vacation destinations in Putin's Russia can no longer be called Paris and Porto, but Pyongyang and Beijing."