Estonia’s police and border control department has issued a statement to speak out in defence of its decision to deny entry to several Ukrainian citizens who stayed in Russia for some time prior to their attempt to cross the Estonian border. In August, a few refugees complained that they were not allowed to enter Estonia from Russia at the Ivangorod-Narva border checkpoint. According to the Ukrainians themselves, their frequent travels to Russia in the past were behind the decision. The statement notes that after the war broke out “more than 40,000 Ukrainian citizens have arrived in Estonia from Russia, many of whom have stayed in Estonia and received temporary protection.” Over these 6 months, border guards have prevented nearly one in 100 Ukrainian citizens from entering Estonia. Right at the beginning of hostilities, “only a few people a week were turned away”, while the number of such cases has lately increased to a few dozen every week.
In the statement, the Estonian border control department underlines that those who thought that “a Ukrainian (internal) passport would automatically guarantee them entry to Estonia, despite the fact that they were not war refugees” were particularly denied entry into the country.
“Ukrainian citizens must have a legal basis to enter Estonia,” says Marek Liiva, head of the Narva border crossing point. “Border guards deny entry for people who do not have a legal basis to enter Estonia and whose data reveal that they have, for instance, lived and worked in Russia in recent years, hold a Russian residence permit and/or Russian citizenship and are not arriving in Estonia from a war zone.”
“Border guards often find that a person has hidden their Russian passport or has significantly distorted or withheld information, in which case the person is very unlikely to be allowed to enter Estonia. Those who are denied entry include, for instance, people who have been living and working in Russia for a long time and who do not really wish to enter the Schengen area as refugees, but rather as tourists or to visit relatives/friends. In this case, they do not travel as refugees,” he adds.
“Anyone who qualifies for temporary protection is allowed to cross the border, as well as Ukrainian citizens who have a visa waiver or other legal basis to enter the country,” Liiva notes.
Meanwhile, activist Grigory Mikhnov-Voitenko says that Estonia turned away Mariupol refugees at the border with Russia, not tourists. “The mother and her child left earlier, while the father could do so only recently,” the activist says. A “long stay in Russia” was cited as the reason to deny them entry. According to the refugees themselves, they simply did not have money and possibilities to leave earlier.
On 18 August, Tallinn shut down borders to Russians with EU visas issued by Estonia.
On 28 July, Estonia suspended temporary residency permit and education visa issuance to Russians. Moreover, Russians and Belarusians can no longer be legally employed for short-term jobs without a valid visa issued by Estonia. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu previously said that Russia’s war with Ukraine also jeopardizes the security of Estonia and the EU.
