EU countries recognize Russia's neighbors' rights to close borders to Russian citizens - Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

He told Estonian television about this, reports ERR.

"Countries in this region, by virtue of their location, retain the legitimate right to take their own steps that they consider reasonable, guided by their security interests," Reinsalu said before EU foreign ministers gathered for an informal meeting in Prague to discuss, among other things,  and this is the question.

"When I explained this to the foreign ministers of other EU countries, they admitted that this is a real problem, that about a million adults live in Estonia, and in six months, 300,000 citizens of the aggressor country passed through our territory. How many border guards should we have for each citizen of the aggressor state? Will the whole nation protect only the border?," Reynsalu continued.

To the question whether this could mean that if there is no pan-European agreement on restricting the entry of citizens of the Russian Federation into the European Union, the countries on the eastern border will do it on their own, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia answered:

"They can do this with regard to their own territory. But I have to say that the foreign ministers of a number of European Union countries have recognized the legality of this possible step, bearing in mind the fact that the countries bordering Russia have a completely different situation and context, than in states located 2,000 km from Russia".

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia said that he discussed this issue with his colleagues from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland on Tuesday, and joint actions of the bordering countries are possible if the European Union generally refuses to further restrict the entry of Russian citizens into its territory.

In response to claims that the ban on entry to Europe is preventing Russian dissidents from fleeing Russia, Reynsalou said that the countries of the Schengen visa area have issued 10 million visas to Russian citizens, and since the beginning of the war, about a million Russians have entered the European Union, of which only 3,000 people have asked for asylum.