Attack against the prime minister continues: Russian ambassador to Estonia accuses Kallas of nationalism

The Russian ambassador to Estonia, Vladimir Lipayev Photo: Venemaa suursaatkond

The Russian ambassador to Estonia, Vladimir Lipayev, called Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (RE) statement about tourist visas nationalistic.

Although the Russian ambassador was not summoned due to yesterday's threat by the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, the ambassador is now seeking attention in the Russian state media.

The ambassador told the Russian state news agency TASS that Kaja Kallas is not making such statements for the first time, because she is «trying to position herself as a politician of pan-European scale». The ambassador also claimed that the Estonian politicians are improving their ratings through anti-Russian attitude, and Kallas' home party has increased its popularity one and a half times thanks to this rhetoric.

Lipayev reminded the Russian media that Estonia has joined the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which should guarantee freedom of movement for citizens of all countries. «However, there is no wording anywhere that would allow this right to be limited on the basis of national identity,» the ambassador told the Russian news channel.

Zarina Doguzova, head of the Russian tourism business, commented in the same article that Russian tourists have spent billions of dollars in European countries, and now these countries may lose this money.

Yesterday's post by Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on Twitter caused strong indignation in Russia. Namely, Kallas made a statement similar to that by Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin that the continuation of Russian tourism while Russia is at war in Europe is not right and that the issuing of tourist visas should be stopped at the level of the European Union.

Stop issuing tourist visas to Russians. Visiting #Europe is a privilege, not a human right. Air travel from RU is shut down. It means while Schengen countries issue visas, neighbours to Russia carry the burden (FI, EE, LV – sole access points). Time to end tourism from Russia now

— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) August 9, 2022