Bernard-Henri Lévy: The true targets of Putin’s travel ban
Russian President Vladimir Putin (C) walks with Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev (L) and Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon (R) during the ceremony to welcome foreign delegation heads and honorary guests at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 9, 2015.
No, it is not an honor to be banned from traveling to Russia. It's sad. Crushingly sad. Not for me or, I imagine, for the 88 others on the recently revealed blacklist barring current or former European political and military leaders and critics of the Putin regime. But it is sad for Russians, or in any case for Russian democrats, for those who oppose the war in Ukraine; it is sad for the associations of mothers of soldiers, for advocates of law and liberty, and for journalists - all of whom will be deprived of vital contact with allies outside the country, placed in quarantine, confined.
