Estonia starts preventing most Russians from entering the country with visas issued by Estonian authorities from Thursday (August 18), cutting off a popular route into Europe's passport-free Schengen zone.
Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said all the valid Schengen visas which, except for some humanitarian and family-related cases, will be sanctioned.
"We are speaking around 50,000 plus valid visas, and the vast majority of them from the 18th of August, we'll be blocked," Reinsalu told Reuters.
The EU last month agreed the seventh round of sanctions against Russia since its military operation in Ukraine.
Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic have already stopped issuing visas to most Russians, while Finland and Estonia recently called for the EU to do so jointly.
