Another scandal flares up on the Baltic border. This time, however, the victim of the Russophobic policy of Estonia was not a tourist, but a local resident with a residence permit who left the country and suddenly lost the right to return there.
The story told by Fontanka developed as follows: Sergey N., who had left Narva for the neighboring Russian Ivangorod for the funeral of a friend, had a residence permit in Estonia with a Russian passport, was “turned around” by Estonian border guards upon returning home. At the checkpoint, he was given a deportation paper with a five-year ban on entry into Estonia and the Schengen area. The reason is that the “injured” organizer of the “Immortal Regiment” and in general a “pro-Russian activist”. It is worth adding a couple of details – he is 66 years old and worked as a driver at Narva power plants until retirement.
“I was detained at the border and literally within an hour and a half a man from the migration department came. I was told that my residence permit was canceled due to the fact that I pose a danger to the European Union. I asked, “What danger?” What I was told was your active participation in organizing events related to the Great Patriotic War. They put me in a car, took me to the border checkpoint No. 2, which is purely pedestrian, took me to the bridge, gave my passport, took away my ID card, and that’s all, I remained standing on the bridge, from all the property I had a phone and an umbrella, ”said the man about his misadventures.
At the same time, the Estonian police willingly reported on their website about the deportation of a Russian who “does not respect the constitutional order of the Republic of Estonia.” The reason for the cancellation of the residence permit was given by the Estonian authorities on 10 pages, but basically it boils down to the fact that Sergey N. “has authority in the Russian community and participates in political actions.” These “actions” are events on May 9, July 26 – the day of the liberation of Narva, “took part in the” Russian propaganda action “” Immortal Regiment “, wore the flags of the Russian Federation, military uniforms and other symbols,” the Estonian side says. Also, the document even states about “fixed contacts” of a Russian with “diplomatic missions of the Russian Federation and the special services of the Russian Federation.”
The victim himself formulates the cause of the incident as follows: “Because he was conducting a parade on May 9 and the Immortal Regiment.” All activities were coordinated with the local administration, and in 2016-17 they were even accompanied by the police.” At the moment, he is trying to challenge the deportation in an Estonian court, living in an old apartment of acquaintances in Ivangorod. However, Sergei noted that “due to the political situation” he does not expect to return to Estonia soon “even after 5 years, if the government does not change” and plans to “settle down” in Russia.
So far, in the administration of Kingisepp district, the deportee was told that there was no free housing stock for temporary use, adds Fontanka. However, they promised to turn to the governor of the Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko, with a request to adopt a program for the resettlement of compatriots. The fact is that this case is already the second – earlier, another local resident with a Russian passport was deported from Estonia, also the head of the Immortal Regiment in Tallinn, Alexei Esakov, who was “taken to Narva without money and a telephone”. Local leaders say that “consideration of the issue of assistance should be brought into some framework” and most likely “brought to the federal level” – because there is a risk that the entire Baltic region will support the mass deportation of “objectionable” Russians.
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