The introduction of artificial control mechanism to curb mobility, such as vaccination passports, will throw humanity into an even worse past than the pandemic itself, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

"Mobility was one of the key features of our world, and it made our world more humane, because acquaintance and regular contact with another culture, another country, erased contradictions and allowed us to feel the unity of the world. Certain control must be exercised, of course, but artificial control mechanisms to curb mobility will actually be throwing the world back into the past, even much worse than the pandemic itself," Kuleba said at the All-Ukrainian Forum "Ukraine 30. Coronavirus: Challenges and Responses" on Monday in Kyiv.

According to him, so far there are no comprehensive solutions regarding vaccination passports.

"I remain a moderate optimist. I believe that the coronavirus has started us in a period when countries are showing greater unity, greater solidarity with each other. In this I am an optimist. And moderate in that I believe that this is a temporary phenomenon. I think that as soon as all markets are saturated with vaccines, drugs and treatment protocols for coronavirus [COVID-19], the situation will begin to roll back, and we will again hear a lot of selfish rhetoric in the world from different countries," Kuleba said.

The Minister pointed out that one of the important tests is access to the vaccine.

"Now we already see how diplomats and politicians have to skillfully balance the war for vaccines with the need to help their closest partner. But this is the test that we are passing now," he said.

According to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, the second will be a test for the resumption of mobility in the world, including the full functioning of the visa-free regime between Ukraine and the EU.

"This is where we will see very serious things: how much mobility in the world will resume both in a controlled pandemic and after or in the process of its extinction, how quickly people will be able to travel freely again, whether artificial restrictions will not be invented to control the movement of people in the world, whether additional difficulties and procedures will be introduced for this," he said.

Kuleba said that some of these procedures may be quite reasonable, and it should not be considered that any additional procedure is discriminatory by definition.

"But where will the border lie between reasonable procedures aimed at protecting the health of citizens and procedures that significantly limit the mobility of people in the world, this will be a very serious test for humanity for its unity," he said.