This is because the type of charter group trips banned, for instance by bus, had long since come to an end, following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, or even earlier, during the Covid pandemic.

The EU last week adopted a fresh sanctions package on Russia, which includes a bar on companies providing tourism services in Russia, effective from Friday, October 24. Transport line routes are still permissible.

Of the Estonian bus line operators ERR spoke to, all said they no longer provide group tours to the Russian Federation in any case.

Mari-Liis Luha, spokesperson for Taisto Bussid, said: "I think we haven't been there since the start of the war, and to be honest, we wouldn't risk going there either." Both in Tallinn and Narva there are, Luha said, still some smaller operators running small numbers of buses which have continued to actively provide trips to Russia and also to Belarus.

Meanwhile, T.A Bussid, a company based near Rakvere, states on its website that their primary business activity is passenger transport in Estonia, Russia, and Europe, and that buses can be hired out for tourist trips, excursions, or concert and theater trips. However, spokesperson Kristi Aasamets said that information is outdated, and they too no longer travel to Russia.

"There hasn't been a single trip to Russia since Covid. Before Covid, that information was relevant, and there were often trips to St. Petersburg, but not any more," Aasamets said. Kerli Veski, Deputy Secretary General for Legal and Consular Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that while in recent years the ministry's position has been to advise against traveling to Russia, from now on, operating one-off charter trips also falls under sanctions and so is banned.

"This means that providing such services now constitutes a violation of sanctions. Both individual trips and the offering of related services are prohibited, as are group trips. Starting from organizing a bus tour, taking a group to Russia, providing guide services, accommodation, tickets – anything related to tourism that would allow a person to go on a leisure trip to Russia – is not permitted," Veski said. She noted that in Estonia, group tours to Russia for children and young people had already been banned by government decision since December last year.

"I think that from Estonia's perspective, the changes affect us less than in other countries, where there had been cases of allowing both group and individual trips to Russia," Veski said. The deputy secretary general also noted that regular route trips may in fact still be operated — it is irregular, one-off trips which are barred.

According to Asmik Tsaturjan, Executive Director of the Estonian Travel and Tourism Association, no travel agencies have recently offered tourist trips to Russia. The once-popular Tallinn to St. Petersburg bus and cruise trips have long been discontinued. This makes the latest sanctions mostly a formality, she said.

"This is really just a purely formal change in retrospect, because trips from Western countries to Russia are certainly not encouraged today. It's a formal step – it wasn't taking place anyway," Tsaturjan said.

At the same time, she pointed out that private trips to visit relatives living in Russia remain commonplace, but each person should assess their own risks, bearing in mind that Estonia cannot ensure the safety and security of its citizens once inside the Russian Federation or in Belarus.

Veski said the same, noting that the foreign ministry cannot guarantee that Estonian citizens in Russia will not be harassed or detained on false charges, and that providing consular assistance is difficult — especially if a person holds dual citizenship.

The EU last week adopted the 19th sanctions package against Russia, targeting key sectors of the war economy. As well as the tourism ban, the new measures include a full ban on Russian LNG imports by 2027, expanded financial and crypto sanctions, and additional restrictions on Russia's shadow fleet, energy services, and military-industrial complex. The package also introduces asset freezes, travel bans on 69 individuals and entities, and bans on new contracts with Russian Special Economic Zones, intensifying pressure on Russia's war effort.

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