Estonia’s Internal Affairs Ministry has drafted legislation that would bar Russian and Belarusian citizens from buying real estate in the country, ERR reported.
The ministry cited “threats to Estonia’s security or public order” posed by hostile states as the justification for the proposed ban.
Russian and Belarusian citizens who hold permanent residency in Estonia would be exempt. Permanent residency, the ministry said, indicates that the state has already vetted the person’s background.
The ban would not apply retroactively — those who own property when the law takes effect would be allowed to keep it.
Similar restrictions, of varying degrees of strictness, are already in effect in Estonia’s neighboring countries. In Latvia and Finland, only Russians with permanent residency permits may purchase real estate — and in Latvia, no more than one apartment — while in Lithuania, Russians with any residency permit, including a temporary one, may do so.
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