Ukrainian citizens will be allowed to enter Russia by land from EU only through Vientuli border checkpoint

RIGA - Russia has limited the entry of Ukrainian citizens from the European Union (EU) to two border crossing points, only one of which is on land, the LETA has learned from the office of Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins (New Unity).

On Wednesday, Russia informed the Foreign Ministry that it is limiting the entry of Ukrainian passport holders into Russia from third countries to only two border crossing points.

As of October 16, all Ukrainian passport holders over the age of 14 will be allowed to enter Russia from third countries only at two border crossing points - Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow and the smallest border checkpoint on the Latvian-Russian border - Vientuli.

Karins stresses that Russia is continuing its tactic of trying to divide the European Union (EU) Member States that share a border with Russia. "Such actions are doomed to failure", the politician vowed, stressing that Latvia will coordinate a common position with its EU and NATO partners and act accordingly.

Russia has land borders in Europe with Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway and Lithuania. Until now, entry into Russia from Latvia was possible through seven border checkpoints. By land, you could also enter Russia from Estonia via seven border crossing points. From Finland, Russia can be entered through more than ten land border crossing points, while Norway has only one.

The Vientuli border crossing in Latvia is the smallest, and traffic between the two countries has mainly been more intensive via other crossing points, such as Terehova, Grebneva, Zilupe.

This Russian decision means that instead of the nearly 30 border crossing points that were previously available on the EU external border to enter Russia, only one will remain, and the smallest one at that.

The Minister's office, however, could not yet comment on whether Russia's decision to maintain only two border crossing points would also mean that Ukrainian citizens would not be allowed to enter Russia via Belarus and Ukraine.

Most likely, this Russian decision is a response to the move by several European countries, including Latvia, to ban vehicles with Russian and Belarusian license plates from entering their territories.