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Putin opposes tit-for-tat visa restrictions

The Russian head of state said that Russia shouldn’t do anything that did not serve its interests

VLADIVOSTOK, September 7. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks that Russia should do what serves its interests without responding in kind to visa restrictions against Russian citizens.

"[Russian Foreign Minister] Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov might probably get angry with me because the Foreign Ministry always acts in a tit-for-tat way - ‘they spat on us, so we should also do the same and so on, they blocked visas to us, so we should also block visas to them.’ We shouldn’t do anything that does not serve our interests," the Russian head of state said at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the leader suggested expanding the practice of visa-free entry to Russia for tourist groups, noting that the country would only benefit from this. Regarding visas with other countries, according to Putin, Moscow shouldn’t "cling to reciprocity."