Berlin must “immediately” stop using “coercive measures” against visiting Russian citizens and explain why it has been seizing Russian private cars, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday. The demand comes as German Customs Service staff continue the practice at the country’s borders.
The steps taken by the German authorities “go beyond even the absolutely illegitimate demands of the anti-Russia sanctions packages,” Zakharova told the Russian journal Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizn.
Both Russian and German media had earlier reported that customs officials there had started confiscating personal vehicles with Russian license plates upon their arrival in Germany. This was sometimes done to Russian tourists traveling through Europe using their personal transport.