Former President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves called for a temporary ban on Russians from entering Europe. The politician announced this on Twitter on Saturday, April 17.
“Perhaps we need a“ temporary break ”for any, and I mean any, visits from Russia. Until the invasion of Crimea, these people arrogantly demanded a visa-free regime with the EU, ”he wrote.
Ilves urged “just to freeze visas”, except for emergency cases in the family, explaining this by the need to ensure security in Europe.
Earlier anti-Russian statements have already been made in Estonia. So, in February, the speaker of the Estonian parliament Henn Põlluaas accused Russia of allegedly occupying part of the republic’s territory.
In March, the chairman of the Estonian parliamentary committee on international affairs, Marko Michelson, said that the Estonian side would help Ukraine “return” Crimea, since it would never recognize the peninsula as Russian.
In turn, Ilves’s statement was made the next day after the Czech Republic announced the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats. The country’s authorities explained their decision by the fact that they were allegedly identified as employees of the Russian special services. However, no evidence of this was presented.
The situation with Russian diplomats was preceded by the imposition of US restrictions on Russia. US President Joe Biden signed a decree on April 15 introducing new anti-Russian sanctions. In addition, it became known about the expulsion of 10 employees of the Russian diplomatic mission in Washington.