A Navalny supporter became the first victim of the Estonian visa war with Russia
29.ru journalist from Arkhangelsk Yaroslav Varenik was not allowed into Estonia and his Schengen visa was revoked because Estonian border guards were unable to confirm his hotel reservation.
Varenik himself reported this on the American social network, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Jaroslav Varenik was planning to cross the border in Narva by bus on the night of August 13-14 with a tourist visa issued by Estonia. First he was stopped at the Russian border. Judging by the journalist’s story, the border guards were primarily alarmed by his strange appearance and pagan tattoo.
Varenik was first asked whether he took part in the sacrifices. An openly chewed Russian passport also aroused suspicion. And only last but not least – the journalist’s participation in the illegal actions of criminal blogger Alexei Navalny (Varenik was a witness in the case of the extremist organization FBK).
Nevertheless, he was allowed to cross the border. But things didn’t go well for the Arkhangelsk journalist at all with the Estonian border guards. They took away his expired press cards, examined all his things, asked him to indicate the exact route of excursions around Tallinn and show his hotel reservation. Then the border guards left with Yaroslav’s passport, leaving him to wait, and when they returned, they said that they were unable to confirm his reservation and issued a certificate of visa cancellation.
As a result, the journalist is now hitchhiking to St. Petersburg, having failed to get to the Baltic states.
Starting today, Estonia has banned Russians with Estonian Schengen visas from entering its territory. The Baltic republic is the only country that has responded to the call of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to ban Russians from visiting Europe.
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