Just a random thought—in long term, I wonder if it would be a good idea to make an offer to every citizen of Russia to spend one month on a vacation in Europe (once in their life), with all expenses paid, including travel. Nothing too fancy, just enough so that “but I don’t have enough money” is never an objection. Maybe that would create some cognitive dissonance between “that nice place where I spent a vacation once” and “those horrible enemies that besiege us from all sides”. With a bit of propaganda, not anything directly anti-Russia, but rather like “EU is a place where former enemies, such as Germany and France, now live together in peace” and also “EU expands only when someone wants to join us; and if they later change their mind and want to leave, they are free to do so”. As an antidote against the fear of another country near Russia joining the EU.
No idea how much that would cost, but if the interest exceeds the possible budget, we could select by lottery.
This sounds completely out of touch. Russia is not North Korea, people there do have an idea what life in the West is like. Public support for Russian expansionism isn’t driven by fear of NATO or EU, it’s driven by spite, jealousy and nostalgia for Czarist/Soviet glory days. The scheme you propose would be perceived as a taunt, or even an insult.
Keep in mind that I do support a more open immigration policy for Russian deserters and citizens alike to further lower morale and brain-drain (I haven’t heard any good counter-arguments thus far). The difference is, even if your scheme works out, Russians in Russia having a higher opinion of the EU doesn’t affect Russian state capacity, Russians simply not being in Russia any more does, regardless of what opinions they hold.
Just a random thought—in long term, I wonder if it would be a good idea to make an offer to every citizen of Russia to spend one month on a vacation in Europe (once in their life), with all expenses paid, including travel. Nothing too fancy, just enough so that “but I don’t have enough money” is never an objection. Maybe that would create some cognitive dissonance between “that nice place where I spent a vacation once” and “those horrible enemies that besiege us from all sides”. With a bit of propaganda, not anything directly anti-Russia, but rather like “EU is a place where former enemies, such as Germany and France, now live together in peace” and also “EU expands only when someone wants to join us; and if they later change their mind and want to leave, they are free to do so”. As an antidote against the fear of another country near Russia joining the EU.
No idea how much that would cost, but if the interest exceeds the possible budget, we could select by lottery.
This sounds completely out of touch. Russia is not North Korea, people there do have an idea what life in the West is like. Public support for Russian expansionism isn’t driven by fear of NATO or EU, it’s driven by spite, jealousy and nostalgia for Czarist/Soviet glory days. The scheme you propose would be perceived as a taunt, or even an insult.
Keep in mind that I do support a more open immigration policy for Russian deserters and citizens alike to further lower morale and brain-drain (I haven’t heard any good counter-arguments thus far). The difference is, even if your scheme works out, Russians in Russia having a higher opinion of the EU doesn’t affect Russian state capacity, Russians simply not being in Russia any more does, regardless of what opinions they hold.
As far as I know about 70% people in Russia don’t have an international passport. And I think many people who have it visited only Egypt or Turkey.
It seems like the current policy of banning air travel is essentially the opposite of what you are proposing.