Politico: Estonia pushes EU to block ex-Russian soldiers from Schengen zone

European Union foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels on January 29 for a wide-ranging Foreign Affairs Council (FAC), with one of the key issues being a proposal led by Estonia to bar former Russian soldiers who fought in Ukraine from entering the EU.

Estonian officials have warned that a future peace settlement could result in large numbers of battle-hardened Russian veterans attempting to cross into the bloc, posing potential security risks, particularly within the Schengen free-travel area, according to Politico sources.

“[After] four years of fighting, we are talking about even a million or so people — certainly hundreds of thousands — who are right now still fighting,” a senior Estonian diplomat told Politico. “These are big numbers. But what happens when they want to come to the Schengen [Area]?”

Tallinn has raised concerns about a sharp rise in violent crime inside Russia, linking the trend to demobilised soldiers returning from the war, including some who had been released early from prison to serve in so-called penal battalions.

“One way to mitigate the risk is to put as many of these individuals that are proven to have been fighting in the war against Ukraine [onto] the Schengen blacklist,” the diplomat said.

However, Estonia argues that the EU’s existing mechanisms for identifying and barring individuals are too slow and rely heavily on action by individual member states.

While EU countries are “morally” supportive of Estonia’s initiative, according to one EU diplomat, translating that support into policy may prove challenging. Estonia has the legal framework to impose a broad ban, whereas many other member states would need to identify former fighters individually and compile the evidence required to justify entry restrictions.

By Sabina Mammadli