Netherlands in favor of banning Russian tourists from EU

The Netherlands will support proposals to ban Russian tourists from entering the European Union, Dutch foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra said on Tuesday.

"We would like to make a difference between the Russian state and its citizens. But at the same time, we see that by far the most people that come here are rich Russians who often have ties to the regime", Hoekstra told Dutch broadcaster RTL.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that a visa ban on all Russian citizens is unlikely to be agreed on. Germany and France are leading a push to tighten visa restrictions, rather than impose an outright ban.