Estonia proposes eighth package of sanctions against Russia which includes Russian travel ban

The Estonian Foreign Ministry has brought forward a proposal for the European Commission to adopt the eighth package of sanctions against Russia which will ban Russian travellers from entering Europe if passed, the agency issued a statement on its website.

“I call on other European governments to introduce additional domestic sanctions to stop the travel of the nationals of the aggressor state Russia and work together towards closing the Schengen area to Russian citizens,” Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu noted.

According to him, it is crucial to streamline the adoption of the new package of sanctions to raise the cost of the aggression for Russia. Estonia also seeks to expand economic, energy and trade sanctions imposed on Moscow as well as add more people and legal entities to sanction lists.

Reinsalu underlined that Estonia wants the new sanctions to significantly affect the Russian travel to Europe.

He added that Estonia is “working towards a consensus in the entire Schengen visa area to impose additional sanctions on Russian citizens as Estonia has already done.”

On Thursday, Estonia shut down borders for Russian holders of Schengen 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.