“You are not welcome here!” Estonia restricts entry of Russian citizens from September 19

Estonia is set to restrict the entry of Russian citizens from September 19, joining Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, as reported on Thursday, September 8.

Speaking on Estonia’s restriction of Russian citizens, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas stated:

“Together with Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, we want to significantly restrict the entry of Russian citizens for tourism purposes.”

“Today we are making a statement to this effect together with the Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish prime ministers. We have already assessed this as necessary in the past,” stated Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.

She stressed that the exceptions already in place for visiting relatives and other humane reasons will remain in place when it comes to restricting the entry of Russian citizens.

One of the reasons for the entry restriction, Kallas said, was security, as Estonia is unable to control all arrivals, given that a hybrid war is going on in Ukraine alongside Russia’s war of aggression.

Estonia will have to deploy huge resources to keep the border secure, he said.

Referring to the restriction, Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Reinsalu said that he was already urging Russian citizens not to come to Estonia.

“You are not welcome here!” he said, adding that the legal ban will come into force on September 19.

Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets explained at a press conference that as of September 19, holders of Schengen visas who are travelling for tourism, sport, culture will not be able to enter Estonia, and the same exceptions that Estonia already applied in the summer will remain in place.

“This will close an important route to the European Union for Russian citizens,” Läänemets said, pointing out that while the number of arrivals for visas issued by Estonia decreased from 600 Russian citizens per day to 100-150, the Interior Ministry now expects the number of arrivals to decrease from 400-500 to about 100.

“Maybe there will be a pretty big decrease,” he said, as reported by Estonian news agency ERR.

The news quickly broke on Twitter:

Based Estonia, well done

— 💙💛 Moiety Fella🎗 (@The_Moiety) September 8, 2022

https://twitter.com/Heroiam_Slava/status/1567822074118373376

⚡️#Estonia Bans #Russians From Entering From Sept 19

Estonia will ban entry for Russian citizens from September 19, including those with Schengen visas issued by third countries, Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said. pic.twitter.com/THTbmzBgcy

— MOCez🇷🇺🇮🇶🇾🇪🇨🇳🇵🇰🇵🇸🇸🇾🇮🇷🇰🇵 (@Mousacisse1) September 8, 2022

The news comes after reports that the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were set to ban the entry of Russians across the Russian-Belarusian border, as reported on Wednesday, September 7.

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