Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna held a phone call with his Lithuanian counterpart Kestutis Budrys to discuss security matters, including Tallinn's proposal to bar Russian military personnel who fought against Ukraine from entering the Schengen zone.
Tsahkna, who presented the initiative to colleagues in Brussels the day before, shared details of the conversation on X. The Estonian minister emphasized that the discussion covered various security issues, particularly the need to prevent Russian soldiers who participated in the war against Ukraine from accessing the Schengen area.
"Former fighters pose a serious long-term security risk to Europe and can be exploited for sabotage, subversion, and organised crime," Tsahkna stated. "We agreed that, to protect European societies, Russian citizens who fought against Ukraine must be denied entry and residence permits in the Schengen area."
The proposal first emerged unofficially on 29 January, when Estonia began circulating the idea among EU member states. Following a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, the bloc's High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaya Kallas indicated that the proposal has garnered support from many countries and will continue to be discussed.
