Ministers from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Poland met in Tallinn on Thursday (June 19), along with European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner and a representative of the EU's border agency Frontex.

Minister of Interior Igor Taro (Eesti 200) told ERR after the meeting: "There are hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens who have fought against an independent European country, and we should take a very clear stance that these people cannot travel freely in Schengen — we will not grant them residence permits, we will not grant them visas, because this whole group, which has killed and destroyed there, poses a very serious security threat to all of us."

The ban should stay in place even after the war ends, ministers agreed.

All the signatories except Sweden share a border with Russia.

The statement provided by the Estonian Ministry of Interior is published in full below:

"Taking into account the current geopolitical situation, we, the ministers responsible for internal security of Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and Sweden convened in Tallinn and Narva on 19–20 June 2025 to jointly assess the developments and existing challenges related to the protection of our external borders and ongoing hybrid operations, including physical acts of sabotage against stability and democratic values.

"The threat to democratic Europe posed by the regimes of Russia and Belarus is systematic and long term, which is underlined by the fourth year of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and Belarus' support for this war.

"We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine, which is defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russian aggression.

"Even in case of cessation of full-scale military aggression against Ukraine, the threats to the European Union's internal security posed by Russia will remain. Member States should take all necessary measures to ensure that individuals who are or have been contracted by the Russian armed forces or other armed groups acting on behalf of the regime are not allowed to undermine our security or move freely within the Schengen Area. In particular, it is important to avoid granting residence permits or visas to those who have participated in the war of aggression against Ukraine.

"We need to increase our cooperation in exchanging information, carrying out joint activities, and supporting each other to tackle instrumentalised migration. We continue to emphasise the importance of decisive response to this challenge and the need for greater support to secure our external land borders with adequate infrastructure and continued political commitment.

"Those who challenge our internal security – including organised crime networks and hostile state actors – are increasingly making use of emerging technologies to advance their objectives. It is our shared responsibility to stay ahead of these threats.

"This requires sustained investment in modern technological solutions for the surveillance and protection of the European Union's external borders. Modern border security infrastructure includes robust and deterrent drone capabilities – the ability to detect, monitor, and mitigate drone activity, which poses a threat to our border security. A comprehensive counter-drone system is needed at our borders.

"We need to exchange information and cooperate closely to develop a shared understanding of current and evolving threats, and to take this into account when implementing the priorities of the new European Internal Security Strategy "ProtectEU".

"We must strengthen our own internal security, ultimately contributing to a safer and more secure Europe; we must build resilience against hybrid threats and strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure, and dismantle the networks of terrorism, violent extremism, and organized crime. The European Union, NATO and the Schengen Area together form our common security space, and its protection requires unity and increased cooperation among us. Strong external borders and resilience are our wall of freedom."

Interior ministers met today in #Tallinn with @magnusbrunner & @LeijtensFrontex.
In their joint statement, they stressed that the EU's external #border & our #resilience form a wall of #freedom against hybrid threats & ongoing #security challenges. #Schengen40 pic.twitter.com/RLwc7Frlgb

— Siseministeerium/MoI (@sisemin) June 19, 2025

NB8++ call for more action on shadow fleet

On the same day, the NB8++ format – Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom – called for "further joint and coordinated action" to tackle Russia's shadow fleet.

The countries said they were "particularly concerned" about vessels flying without flags, meaning no state is responsible for them.

"If vessels fail to fly a valid flag in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, we will take appropriate action within international law," a joint statement said.

The appeal said the countries would draft a set of guidelines for dealing with the issue and further strengthen their cooperation.

This article was updated on June 20 to add the text of the joint statement. It was updated for a second time to correct the headline.

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