Israelis with dual Russian citizenship who tried to leave Russia via Estonia over the past few days have encountered difficulties and some were refused entry. Haaretz has learned of three different cases in which Estonia denied the entry of Israelis who tried to cross the Russian border into the country.
The Foreign Ministry has confirmed that it has been contacted by Israelis who were barred entry to Estonia from Russia and that it was working to resolve the matter.
On September 19, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland closed their borders to Russian citizens. However, this restriction does not apply to people travelling with an Israeli passport since they do bot require visas to enter EU member countries – including Estonia.
However, Lea Chichik, an Israeli living in Russia who attempted to cross into Estonia, told Haaretz that the policy at the border is different.
“They treat people with dual citizenship with suspicion,” Chichik said. “They ask questions like ‘where do you live more,’ etc. The formal reason for the refusal was that we said that we were flying to Tel Aviv, but we didn’t have tickets to Tel Aviv, only to Budapest. In addition, we didn’t have health insurance valid for a stay in the EU, but so far they’ve never cared about that in all of my 33 years.”
Eventually, after Chichik ordered tickets from Budapest to Tel Aviv and obtained insurance, she was able to cross the border. But two men with whom Haaretz is in contact, tried over the past few days to leave Russia via Estonia with Israeli passports, and were turned down. Now they are trying to leave by other routes and are afraid to talk to the media until they manage to do so.
One of them told Haaretz that the fact that he had a ticket to Tel Aviv didn’t help him at the border. “The border policeman who turned me away said: ‘I can buy 10 tickets like this.’” The Telegram messaging account Trueisrael reported eight other cases of Israelis who were not allowed into Estonia.
The refused entries come amid a stream of citizens, mainly men, fleeing Russia in fear of being drafted to fight in the war with Ukraine. People across Russia are publishing statements saying that contrary to President Vladimir Putin’s declaration, by which only men who had been in the military and had a military profession would be drafted, no one is safe, no matter what their age or military experience are. Considering the limited list of destinations open because of the war and the skyrocketing cost of plane tickets, many Israelis with Russian citizenship are now hanging their hopes on their Israeli passports to get out of Russia overland.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in response: “When we received requests at the Foreign Ministry’s situation room and requests from the Israeli consul in Finland, who is also responsible for Estonia, the ministry began working to resolve the issue. The ambassador and the consul in Finland approached the authorities in Estonia to solve the matter as soon as possible. The consul approached the border crossings and the Foreign Ministry turned to Estonia’s ambassador to Israel for help.”
The Foreign Ministry also said that Israel had asked Estonia for a list of relevant documents that Israeli citizens needed to present at the border to be able to enter the country.
The ministry has launched a similar process with Latvia and Lithuania, who also closed their borders with Russia. If such a list is received, the Foreign Ministry promised to let Israelis in Russia know. The Estonian Embassy in Israel today released directives on entering Estonia “in connection with Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and the resulting security situation.” The directives state that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have barred entry of Russian tourists through external borders.
Click the alert icon to follow topics:
"entry" - Google News
September 25, 2022 at 09:29PM
https://ift.tt/vgshiJK
Estonia Bars Entry to Israelis With Russian Citizenship Trying to Leave Russia - Israel News - Haaretz
"entry" - Google News
https://ift.tt/DuHp5R8
https://ift.tt/MQb3dWi
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Estonia Bars Entry to Israelis With Russian Citizenship Trying to Leave Russia - Israel News - Haaretz"
Post a Comment