‘A privilege, not a human right’: Finland and Estonia demand EU travel ban for Russian tourists

‘Visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right,’ Estonian PM says

Finland’s prime minister Sanna Marin (L) speaks with her Estonian counterpart Kaja Kallas in Brussels on 15 December, 2021. (AP)

Finland and Estonia have urged the EU to ban Russians from receiving tourist visas, shortly after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky made the same plea to the West.

Russian citizens should not be allowed to enjoy holidays in the bloc while the Kremlin continues to wage war on Ukraine, they argued.

Although the EU has banned Russian planes from entering its airspace, its citizens can still travel across their country’s land borders with Finland, Estonia and Latvia to catch onward flights to other European destinations.