Estonia will close the border for Russians with Schengen visas Sanctions

will come into force in a week, however, visas already issued to Russians will continue to be valid for entry into other EU states. it will also be possible to enter Estonia with visas,

Estonia will close its borders to Russian citizens with Schengen visas issued by the republic, with some exceptions, Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said, Delfi reports.

The Estonian sanctions will come into force in a week, but the visas already issued to Russians will continue to be valid for entry into other EU states, Reinsalu explained. There will be exceptions for:

persons who work in a diplomatic mission; persons whose work is related to international transportation; persons whose arrival is related to humanitarian reasons; persons who visit a relative living in Estonia; persons entitled to free movement within the EU.

Reinsalu stressed that entry into the country will be prohibited for the "lion's share" of Russian citizens who have been issued visas by the Republic of Estonia, but this does not apply to visas issued by other Schengen countries. Also, the Estonian government will allow to extend the residence permit for a year to those Russian students who did not have time to finish their studies. The number of such students is about 50 people, the minister pointed out.

RBC sent a request to the press service of the European Commission.

The EU began to discuss the idea to ban the issuance of Schengen visas to Russians Politics

After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the European Union suspended the simplified visa regime with RUSSIA, which meant a simplified procedure for processing documents for officials and entrepreneurs. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu and Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics spoke in favor of a complete ban on visas for Russians.

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Back in July, the European Commission ruled out a complete ban on issuing visas to Russians. “There are always groups of people who need to be given visas. These are humanitarian cases, family members [of EU citizens], journalists and dissidents,” the European officials said. As explained in the EC, the Brussels sanctions are directed primarily and "mainly" against the Russian government and the country's economic elites, and not against ordinary citizens.

German government spokesman Steffen Hebeshtreit said on August 10 that the EU had begun discussing the initiative of a number of EU countries to ban the issuance of Schengen visas to Russians. “It [the project] was submitted by some countries to the EU and thus is on the agenda. The German government will now have to hold discussions on it between cabinet members and within the EU. These discussions are not completed, so I cannot report on interim results,” Hebeshtreit said.

The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have already suspended the issuance of tourist visas for Russians.