Four of the five European Union countries that border Russia began refusing Russian tourists at midnight on Monday, saying they must not travel while their country is at war with Ukraine.
Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania imposed new restrictions when Finland decided to remain open, although it reduced the number of consular consultations available to Russian visa-seeking travelers.
The move was the latest in a series of sanctions and other measures taken by the European Union (EU) or its member states since Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls a “special military operation”.
The EU has banned all flights from Russia, leaving only rail and road connections available, and this month agreed to limit the issuance of visas for free travel to the Schengen zone.
Monday’s entry ban is targeted at tourists and excludes Russian dissidents seeking refuge in the EU, along with truck drivers, refugees and permanent residents of EU countries, as well as those visiting family members.
On a cold and rainy Sunday in Narva, an Estonian border town with Russian speakers representing more than 90% of its population, Russian citizens were rushing in before new rules took effect.
Vadim Koralyov, a 64-year-old retiree from St. Petersburg, bought an apartment in Narva so his daughter and grandchildren from Paris could visit.
“Now I don’t know what to do. The border guard told me that I will no longer be allowed to come here,” he told Reuters.
Less than a tenth of the roughly 4,000 Russians who enter Estonia daily are losing their rights under the new rules, officials said.
“People of Russia, do not try to cross the border, you are not welcome here – you need to end the war against Ukraine and leave this beautiful country!” Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevics tweeted.
block division
The issue of EU travel has divided the bloc, with capitals such as Berlin and Paris arguing that it would be counterproductive to ban ordinary Russians, a move defended by Kiev.
Finland, whose prime minister Sanna Marin previously declared that Russian tourists should not travel to the EU during the war, said such a ban could violate the Schengen zone’s agreement that all countries honor visas issued by other countries in the zone.
“One country grants the visa, another denies it. This is certainly not very desirable for the system,” Finnish President Sauli Niinisto told reporters in Helsinki last week.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has expressed her frustration with divisions within the EU, warning that many Russian travelers are now heading to the Finnish border.
“There is a gap, and the gap is Finland,” the prime minister told Reuters in an interview on Saturday. “So it’s not entirely effective…but it’s still better than nothing,” she added. “Hopefully, sooner or later, they have to do that too.”
For Mikhail Ivanov, a 35-year-old Russian national who travels by bus from St Petersburg to Tallinn on Sunday, visiting friends in Estonia can get more complicated. “I will still be able to reach Estonia from other countries,” he told Reuters shortly after crossing into Narva.
Russia said it would oppose restrictions, but would not close itself off to the bloc.
Source: CNN Brasil
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