MOSCOW, March 19. /ITAR-TASS/. President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy who asked for a visit to Russia “has not been allowed to Moscow,” he had been put “on a new sanction list - of those in the European Union who are banned to travel to Russia,” Russia's Foreign Ministry reported.
“On March 17, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy asked for an urgent visit to Russia” in order “to hear first hand information about the position of the Russian side on the crisis in Ukraine and around it, as well as the perspective of the ways out of the still deteriorating situation,” the ministry said. “Moscow has promptly responded to the request and offered to receive him on March 19.”
“However, the European Council president has not been allowed to travel to Moscow,” Russia's Foreign Ministry stressed. “His friends did not allow him [to go], assuming that he does not need to know the truth, as everything has already been decided."