Germany warns citizens against visiting Russia

The travel advice was due to the “continuing deterioration of the situation in the country,” according to Berlin

The German Foreign Ministry has updated its travel advice for Russia, “and now strongly” discourages German citizens and persons with dual citizenship from visiting the country. Previously, Berlin had only advised against travelling to Russia.

According to a ministry press release, issued on Thursday, the change was due to the continuing deterioration of the situation in Russia, including “arbitrary arrests being observed more and more frequently.”

The new notice also warns against travel to Russia’s regions bordering Ukraine, which along with Moscow, have been the target of repeated drone attacks in recent months. “Further attacks cannot be ruled out,” including on the public transport network, the press release warned.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on the recommendations, saying “Germany’s pro-American authorities are afraid that their citizens will see Russia with their own eyes, interact with Russians and realize that their [German] politicians have been fooling [them] all these years,” Zakharova said.

The development follows a recent eavesdropping scandal over leaked recording of top German military officials discussing how to help Kiev strike Russian infrastructure without implicating Berlin. The officers discussed operational and targeting details for Taurus missiles that could be sent to Ukraine, including their possible use against the 18km Crimean Bridge, that connects the peninsula with southern Russia.

READ MORE: German MP calls for attack on government buildings in Moscow

They also talked about ways to maintain plausible deniability of German involvement in such an attack, to avoid sparking a wider conflict.

This week, MP Roderich Kiesewetter, a former German Army (Bundeswehr) general staff officer - who is currently deputy chairman of the German parliament’s oversight committee - insisted that Ukraine should take the war to Russia. He told a talk show on state broadcaster ZDF that Russia’s Ministry of Defense building or the HQ of the country’s intelligence service in central Moscow are legitimate targets that should be attacked.