Estonian PM against Russian tourists
Brussels 24.08.2022 Estonia joined calls of Finland and Latvia to the EU to close its borders to Russian tourists, echoing a warning from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Stop issuing tourist visas to Russians. Visiting #Europe is a privilege, not a human right,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas tweeted, a day after Zelensky urged the West to opt for a travel ban.
“The most important sanctions are to close the borders — because the Russians are taking away someone else’s land,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with the Washington Post published Monday, adding that Russians should “live in their own world until they change their philosophy.”
Finland Prime minister Kallas pointed out that most easy enter to the EU through the bloc’s eastern border with Russia, putting a burden on Estonia, Latvia and Finland as the “sole access points.”
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said that her “personal position is that tourism should be restricted,” and that she expected the issue to be discussed at upcoming EU leaders’ summits.
“It’s not right that at the same time as Russia is waging an aggressive, brutal war of aggression in Europe, Russians can live a normal life, travel in Europe, be tourists. It’s not right,” she told Finland’s national public broadcaster Yle.
EUROPE DIPLOMATIC 