Estonia blasts UNSC, calls efforts to stop Russia's war in Ukraine as 'shameful'

Estonia has called the United Nations Security Council's efforts to stop the war in Ukraine "shameful." Estonia's president, Alar Karis used his speech to the U.N General Assembly to condemn not only Russia but also the council's attempts to stop the war. "The United Nations Security Council, has been paralyzed and utterly unable to play its role," Karis said.  

"It is shameful that since February 24 it has adopted only one statement on Ukraine." Karis says Estonia has long advocated to curb the veto power, and again questioned how the world body can grant Russia, aggressor, veto power in the Security Council?"

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania closed their borders to most Russian citizens in response to the wide domestic support in Russia for the war in Ukraine. Under the coordinated travel ban, Russians wishing to travel to the Baltic countries as tourists or for business, sports or cultural purposes will not be allowed in even if they hold valid visas for the European Union's checks-free Schengen Area. The prime ministers of the three Baltic nations and Poland agreed earlier this month to stop admitting Russian citizens, saying the move would protect the security of the four European Union member nations.

“Russia is an unpredictable and aggressive state. Three-quarters of its citizens support the war. It is unacceptable that people who support the war can freely travel around the world, into Lithuania, the EU," Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite said Monday. “Such support for hostilities can pose threats to the security of our country and the EU as a whole,” she added.

The ban includes exceptions for humanitarian reasons, family members of EU citizens, Russian dissidents, serving diplomats, transportation employees and Russians with residence permits or long-stay national visas from the 26 Schengen countries. Poland’s interior minister, Mariusz Kaminski, signed regulations Monday that will put the central European nation's war-related ban on Russian travelers into effect on Sept. 26. Poland, which borders Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, still has tight restrictions on foreign visitors remaining from the COVID-19 pandemic.