Estonian visa cancellation has ordinary Russians worried

Estonia this week will close its border to more than 50,000 Russians with previously issued visas, the first country in the European Union to do so, making it harder for ordinary Russians to enter EU.

Like many of the hundreds of Russians crossing the border each day at the Estonian town Narva, Anna is worried she will not be able to keep coming to Estonia, where she visits the graves of relatives.

“We hope that countries will come up with some solution. Maybe they can agree on something. I keep myself away from politics but since my relatives are buried here I would like to keep coming,” she said.

“But what can you do. For us, regular people we can’t solve this. This has to be negotiated and I hope our countries at some point will reach agreement and find compromise”.

The ban comes just four days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a fresh call for EU states to ban visas for Russian nationals to keep the bloc from becoming a “supermarket” open to anyone with the means to enter.