By KYIV. Nov 30 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna has recommended Estonians not travel to Russia as the border could be closed for some time and they might be stranded in the neighboring country.
“Together with the Finnish foreign minister and the foreign ministers of the Nordic and Baltic countries, we’ve discussed how to support Finland and ensure security on our borders,” Tsahkna said at a press conference on Thursday.
Estonia “should help Finland at the international level,” Tsahkna said. “We stand ready, if necessary, to provide comprehensive practical assistance, and we are prepared to close our borders. Therefore, here’s an important message to our residents: if the borders are closed temporarily, those staying on the Russian side will be unable to return,” he said.
“Therefore, there’s a very clear recommendation of not travelling to Russia, as we don’t know when the migration pressure gets strong enough to prompt us to temporarily close the borders. But such preparedness does exist, and the government has discussed the matter,” Tsahkna said.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said on November 28 that the government decided to close the Raja-Jooseppi crossing starting Thursday for two weeks on the grounds that Russia facilitated the passage of numerous illegal migrants from third countries to the Finnish border. Finland had previously closed all other crossings on the Russian border. The Vainikkala border station designed exclusively for railway services between Finland and Russia is the only crossing that remains open between the two countries now.
Finland’s decision to close its border crossings with Russia has increased the number of people crossing the Estonian-Russian border by 25%, Eve Kalmus, chief of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board’s border administration office, said on Thursday.
“We see today that the traffic across the Estonian-Russian border has increased to 5,000 from 4,000,” Kalmus said on Estonian television.
