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14:01 26 Jul 2022

Estonia preparing EU proposal to stop issuing visas to russians

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia is preparing proposals for the European Union to stop issuing Schengen visas to russian citizens

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Urmas Reinsalu spoke about it on Estonia's Ringvaade TV show on Monday, July 25, ERR reports.

"The idea is for the European Union to stop issuing visas to russian citizens under normal circumstances, as is the case in Estonia." He added there were humanitarian exceptions that are processed separately.

"But it is curious how masses of russian tourists can cross the western border—through Finland, Latvia, Lithuania—and visit the Louvre during the summer school break while children are being murdered in Ukraine. A morally helpless situation," Reinsalu said on ETV's Ringvaade.

The Estonian foreign minister said Estonia should also assess whether it is worth revoking already issued visas on specific grounds.

At the same time, in March, when Estonia announced the temporary suspension of issuing tourist visas to russians, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia assured that russian citizens who have Schengen visas already issued by Estonia would still be able to enter Estonia.

According to Urmas Reinsalu, they already discussed the issue of visas for russian citizens in the European Union in March. At that time, there were COVID restrictions in russia, and travel was not as widespread as it is now.

The Estonian Foreign Ministry added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to prepare proposals for the EU in the coming weeks.

"I have mentioned this issue to the foreign ministers of Finland and Latvia, and we will definitely be consulting governments in the region to try and find support for the initiative," Reinsalu said.

"We need all countries on board. We will raise the issue again, and I am hopeful in terms of support. The situation is not what it was in spring," the foreign minister emphasized.

Estonian Minister of the Interior Lauri Läänemets also stated that the rules for the issue of Schengen visas didn't give Estonia the right to deny entry to the country to people who were granted a visa by a different member state of the Schengen Area.

"We share Schengen space, meaning that people holding other countries' visas can come to Estonia and often use it as a transit country," he said.

The minister said the only way to restrict russian tourism in Europe and Estonia is by imposing Europe-wide sanctions. "Sanctions for russia should be universal and consistent in Europe. If the Baltics and Poland remain the only ones, the effect (of sanctions) will be that much smaller," Läänemets said.

At the same time, the Estonian interior minister doesn't believe it would be a good idea for Estonia to completely close down the country's border with russia: "The problem is that some people, including Estonian citizens, need to be able to cross the border. A certain level of commerce is also still taking place."

Estonia can't do anything on its own. "We could consider cutting russian citizens who enter Estonia with another country's Schengen visa off from the possibility of working. We can take those kinds of measures," the minister said.

Meanwhile, Finland's most prominent parties support restrictions on issuing visas to russians.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine believes that the world countries should include in the visa questionnaire for russian citizens the question of their support for the war in Ukraine.

Read Rubryka's daily timeline of war: current news on Ukraine's defense against russia's aggression.

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