Stockholm - European politicians who discovered they were on a previously confidential Russian travel blacklist said Saturday they were proud of being included, as EU governments led by Germany criticised the entry bans.
The 89-strong list, formerly undisclosed but revealed to European diplomats on Thursday, includes past and serving parliamentarians and ministers who have been outspoken critics of President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine.
"Those who try to censor us and make us scared for standing up for values deserve even more criticism. For me it's about being very committed to standing up for peace and freedom in Ukraine," Swedish MEP Anna Maria Corazza Bildt told AFP.
"I'm more proud than scared and this gives me more determination to continue... If the Kremlin takes me and my colleagues seriously it means we're doing a good job," the centre-right politician, married to Sweden's former foreign minister Carl Bildt, added.
She was among eight Swedes and several MEPs confirmed on the list, which was drawn up in response to the EU's own sanctions and travel bans on Russia citizens over Moscow's annexation of Crimea in Ukraine last year.
AFP
