Two Russian reporters kicked out of Estonia, accused of ‘spreading propaganda’ and banned from entering EU for 3 years

Correspondent Ksenia Soldatova and operator Dmitry Timofeyev, journalists working for Russia’s Izvestia newspaper, have been expelled from Estonia, sent back into Russia and banned from entering the European Union for 3 years, the newspaper reported via its official website.

According to Izvestia, the journalists were on a train from Narva to Tallinn when they were stopped and taken to a police station to await a migration service officer.

Izvestia claims that Soldatova and Timofeyev were in Estonia as tourists.

“However, they could not ignore the latest developments in Estonia. They decided to cover the story of visa restrictions for Russians and stripping the monument status from a Soviet T-34 tank,” Izvestia reported on its Telegram channel.

The journalists complained that they were asked “very private questions.” Soldatova particularly mentioned the questions about the name of her father and where he worked. According to the correspondent, she has now been labeled as an “illegal immigrant blacklisted by Estonia.”

Urmas Elmi, a senior border control official, told Delfi that the Izvestia reporters had been spreading propaganda in Narva.

“Two Russian citizens, a woman, 30, and a man, 40, entered Estonia via the Narva border checkpoint. At the border, they showed Schengen visas issued by Italy and Finland and said they came for tourist purposes. The man and the woman later headed to the tank in Narva and started spreading propaganda there. They later boarded a train in Narva towards Tallinn. However, a police patrol intercepted the train in Johvi, escorted the Russians off the train and taken them to a police station for a check,” he said.

“The visa has been declared invalid. The decision was made based on the following reasons: the conditions and the aims of the stay have not been identified,” reads the document that the journalists received.

On August 13, their visas were revoked. The reporters will now be unable to enter the EU for 3 years.

Earlier, Estonia announced that it was shutting down borders for Russians with Estonia-issued visas. The ban comes into force in a week’s time.

Estonia will also debate whether to close border for Russians with visas issued by other EU countries.