Estonia and Latvia announced on Saturday that due to the situation in Russia they are increasing border controls with the Russian Federation. The Estonian Foreign Ministry has urged its citizens to leave Russia at the earliest possible opportunity. The Latvian Ministry of Diplomacy announced the ban on crossing the border by Russian citizens.
“Currently there is no imminent threat to Estonia in connection with the events of Russia. Our security authorities are operational, we are in contact with our allies and we are closely watching developments,” assured Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. “However, we have strengthened controls on our eastern borders,” she added.
The Estonian Foreign Ministry repeated its appeal on Saturday to avoid traveling to Russia and urged Estonian citizens to leave the country at the earliest possible opportunity. “We are monitoring the situation and sharing information with our partners,” said Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna.
See also: Yevgeny Prigozhin’s revolt of the Wagnerians. Live coverage on tvn24.pl
Latvia has also increased controls on its border with Russia and will not allow Russian citizens to cross the border due to the current situation in that country, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgards Rinkevics announced on Twitter.
Border crossing between Russia and LatviaFORUM
He added that “at the moment there is no imminent threat to Latvia“.
The Wagnerian revolt is underway
On Friday, the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, announced that troops of the regular Russian army had attacked the Wagner camp, resulting in numerous deaths. He announced that he intended to “restore justice” in the armed forces and called for no opposition to him.
On Saturday morning, the leader of the mercenaries announced that he was at the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, waiting for the arrival of the defense minister Sergey Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. He threatened that otherwise the Wagnerians would “go to Moscow”.
Read more: The Wagnerians took over military facilities in Voronezh. The fuel depot soon caught fire
There were also reports that the Wagner Group had taken control of all military facilities in Voronezh, a city 500 km south of the Russian capital.
Vladimir Putin he called the soldiers of the mercenary Wagner Group traitors and assured that the rebels would be held accountable to the law and the nation, and that Russia would be defended. Prigozhin declared on Saturday after Vladimir Putin’s speech that his fighters would not give up in the fight against the regular Russian army.
Main photo source: FORUM