Estonia will ban Russians with Estonian-issued Schengen visas from entering the country. The rule does not affect permanent residents and will enter into effect on August 18.

“This sanction means that the visas will remain valid, but the visa holders will be sanctioned when entering Estonia, they will not be allowed to enter Estonia. The decision does not concern Russian citizens with visas issued by other EU members. But this issue will be raised with the EU later this month. It will also not affect Russian citizens whose homeland is Estonia or who are permanent residents of Estonia”, - said Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa).

Exceptions to the rule include:

Russian embassy employees and their family members working in Estonia;
Employees directly involved in the transportation of goods and passengers;
Those who have the right to freedom of movement under EU law;
People visiting close relatives;
People entering for humanitarian reasons.
The government is now pushing for all EU member states to adopt the rule.

“We agreed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior will prepare their possible proposals for next week regarding the question of how it would be possible to close the Estonian border to those citizens of the Russian Federation who have a Schengen visa that has not been issued in Estonia”, - added the Minister.