Is it? The rhetoric of Russian officials hasn't changed, they've been accusing the west of rusophobia, nazism, cancel culture etc. in response to pretty much every sanction.
There have been a bigger backlash than usual because this is probably the first sanction that threatens tens if not hundreds of thousands of Russian that have fled the country during the past few months (especially with Zelensky saying that every Russian needs to be sent back to Russia, which is a bit weird since he asked Russians to leave Russia if they can just in March, I believe). The original banking sanctions have affected them but the intent was clear and people understood that it's obviously a hit on the Russian economy with people being a collateral damage. This visa ban doesn't serve any purpose if we're talking about ending the war — it makes the lives of those who try to leave Russia even more difficult and it helps to boost the ratings of European politicians, that's about it.
edit: just glanced through the article on the previous page and it repeats my argument almost word for word!