Estonia warns Russian veterans could flood Europe after Ukraine war, urges EU entry ban
Estonia is pushing for an EU-wide entry ban on former Russian soldiers who participated in the war against Ukraine, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said on Jan. 29.
"There cannot be a path from Bucha to Brussels," Tsahkna told reporters in the Belgian capital, adding that he would raise the proposal at a meeting of EU foreign ministers later that day.
Estonia, a NATO member sharing a border with Russia, banned access to the Schengen area for the first 261 Russian fighters earlier in January. Tallinn is now calling for a coordinated approach across the bloc.
"We have close to 1 million combatants in Russia. They're mainly criminals; they are very dangerous people," Tsahkna said.
"We have information that most of them will come to Europe after the war. And Europe is not ready for that."
An undisclosed senior Estonian diplomat told Politico that existing methods for identifying and banning individuals are too slow and dependent on individual countries, which is why Estonia advocates for a more robust approach.
Another European official told the outlet that while Estonia has the right to impose a blanket entry ban, this would be difficult for many other EU countries, which would have to list each fighter and the necessary evidence individually.
In Russia, soldiers returning home from the front in Ukraine have been linked to spikes in criminality. Over 1,000 people have been reportedly killed or injured by returning combatants over the past four years, with cases of robbery and drug trafficking also on the rise.
Russia has been extensively recruiting convicts for the war in Ukraine, offering pardons in exchange for service at the front.
