Baltic states close borders to Russians over Ukraine war

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The three Baltic states neighboring Russia closed their borders on Monday to most Russians in response to the large public help in Russia for its conflict on Ukraine.

The choice was reached earlier this month by the prime ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and of Poland, which borders Kaliningrad — a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea, surrounded by Lithuania and Poland — saying the transfer would shield the safety of the three European Union nations.

“Russia is an unpredictable and aggressive state. Three quarters of its residents help the conflict. It’s unacceptable that individuals who help the conflict can freely journey around the globe, into Lithuania, the EU,” Lithuania’s Inside Minister Agne Bilotaite mentioned Monday.

“These are additionally safety points, as a result of such help for hostilities can pose threats to the safety of our nation and the EU as an entire,” she mentioned.

The ministry mentioned that 11 Russian residents have been stopped from coming into Lithuania beginning at midnight. Most have been attempting to enter by land from the Kaliningrad area or from neighboring Belarus. No incidents have been reported.

Poland already has plenty of restrictions on Russian vacationers, however there have been no rapid indications of additional restrictions beginning on Monday, despite the fact that the settlement between the 4 nations mentioned the measure must be launched by Sept. 19.

Below the ban, Russians wishing to journey to the Baltic nations as vacationers or for enterprise, sports activities or tradition functions is not going to be allowed in, even when they’ve legitimate visas for the EU’s no-checks Schengen zone. There will probably be a couple of exceptions, for humanitarian causes, for Russian dissidents, diplomats in workplace, transport staff, relations of EU residents, in addition to Russians with residence permits or long-stay nationwide visas from Schengen nations.

The nations can’t, nevertheless, cease Russian residents from coming into through one other Schengen nation. They need comparable measures to be taken by all 27 EU member states, however that has not been agreed thus far, though some journey restrictions have been already launched.

The Czech Republic, which doesn’t share a border with Russia, was one of many first EU nations to cease issuing visas to Russian residents. The federal government in Prague authorised the measure the day after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

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AP writers Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, Jari Tanner in Tallinn, Estonia, and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed.