Estonia will not be issuing tourist visas for Russian citizens looking to enter the country for the duration of the Ukrainian invasion, the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Eva-Maria Liimets said Thursday in Tallinn.
“Estonia is no longer issuing new C and D category (tourist) visas to Russian citizens. The ban will last for as long as Russian continues waging war against Ukraine,” she said. “We are actively working to ensure that our deterrence measures in this region are stronger than they have been so far, because the situation in Europe and in security has changed dramatically and will probably never return to Feb. 23.”
Exceptions will be made for people with family in Estonia and for humanitarian or medical reasons, she added.
There has been a higher number of Russian citizens than usual entering Estonia since the invasion. According to the Estonian Foreign Ministry and Border Guard, more than 12,000 Russian citizens have crossed the land border with Estonia in the past two weeks, which is 2,200 people more than the average over that period before the Russian invasion of Ukraine two weeks ago.
