Finnish Foreign Ministry questions legality of Estonian visa restrictions for Russians
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland considered Estonia’s visa restrictions for Russian citizens ‘legally dubious’ – as comes from the memorandum of the Foreign Ministry, which came into the possession of the Yle television company, TASS reports
The department explained its point of view, “Estonia is trying to claim that holders of tourist visas from Russia and Belarus threaten public order, internal security and international relations directly on the basis of their nationality. Such an interpretation of Estonia can be considered legally dubious.”
Finnish diplomats believe that Estonia’s decision to restrict entry for Russian citizens with Schengen visas may be a violation of the rules of the Schengen area.
The document notes that by such actions, Estonia violates the system of EU legal norms, and Finland, in particular, cannot prohibit the entry of Russians with tourist visas only on the basis of citizenship.
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said earlier that the authorities of this Baltic country restricts from September 19th the entry of Russian citizens, regardless of which country issued them a Schengen visa.
Last month, the Finnish Foreign Ministry announced visa restrictions, in particular, a reduction in the number of tourist visas issued to Russians from September 1st by ten times compared to the current level.
On September 6th, the European Commission officially announced the termination of the visa facilitation agreement with the Russian Federation: it entered into force on September 12th.
