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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 20 sepTember 2022
Baltic nations close borders to Russians over Ukraine war

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA from Belarus. No incidents
Associated Press were reported.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Es- Estonian Foreign Minister Ur-
tonia, Latvia and Lithuania mas Reinsalu told the Finn-
closed their borders Mon- ish newspaper Helsingin
day to most Russian citizens Sanomat that Russian trav-
in response to the wide do- els posed security concerns
mestic support in Russia for because “we know that
the war in Ukraine. Russian spies have used
Under the coordinated fake IDs and carried out
travel ban, Russians wish- various activities in Europe
ing to travel to the Baltic using tourist visas.”
countries as tourists or for Estonia, a nation of 1.3 mil-
business, sports or cultural lion, has registered hun-
purposes will not be al- dreds of thousands of bor-
lowed in even if they hold der crossings by Russian
valid visas for the European citizens since the start of
Union’s checks-free Schen- Russia’s war on Ukraine.
gen Area. The Baltic countries can-
The prime ministers of the not, however, stop Russian
three Baltic nations and citizens from entering via
Poland agreed earlier this another Schengen nation.
month to stop admitting They want similar travel re-
Russian citizens, saying the People visit the area of tripoint marking the place where borders of Poland, Lithuania and Russia’s strictions to be taken by all
move would protect the Kaliningrad Oblast meet, in Zerdziny, Poland, July 7, 2022. 27 EU member states.
security of the four Europe- Associated Press The EU already has banned
an Union member nations. citizens, Russian dissidents, demic. with Kaliningrad will be hit air travel from Russia after
“Russia is an unpredict- serving diplomats, transpor- In the eastern Polish city of economically because it invaded Ukraine. But be-
able and aggressive state. tation employees and Rus- Bialystok, a member of the border traffic there drives fore the ban, Russians could
Three-quarters of its citizens sians with residence per- Russian Culture and Edu- local trade. Russians also still travel by land to Estonia
support the war. It is unac- mits or long-stay national cation Association in Po- shop in Polish cities like War- and apparently were then
ceptable that people who visas from the 26 Schengen land said a new ban would saw or Krakow. taking flights to other Euro-
support the war can freely countries. have hit much harder if the Over 65,000 Russians have pean destinations.
travel around the world, Poland’s interior minister, pandemic restrictions had crossed into Poland this At a EU summit last month,
into Lithuania, the EU,” Mariusz Kaminski, signed not already largely limited year, similar to the same the bloc’s 27 members
Lithuanian Interior Minister regulations Monday that travel with Russia. period last year but 10 were divided over whether
Agne Bilotaite said Mon- will put the central Euro- “After more than two years times smaller than before to slap a broad visa ban
day. “Such support for hos- pean nation’s war-related of restrictions, we see no the pandemic. on Russian citizens, torn be-
tilities can pose threats to ban on Russian travelers prospects for an improve- The Lithuanian Interior Min- tween a desire to ramp up
the security of our country into effect on Sept. 26. Po- ment, and that is the worst istry said 11 Russian citizens pressure on Russian Presi-
and the EU as a whole,” she land, which borders Rus- part,” Andrzej Romanczuk, were stopped from enter- dent Vladimir Putin and
added. sia’s Kaliningrad exclave, a Polish citizen, told The As- ing that country starting at concerns about punishing
The ban includes excep- still has tight restrictions on sociated Press. midnight. ordinary Russians who may
tions for humanitarian rea- foreign visitors remaining He said regions on both Most were trying to enter not even support his war on
sons, family members of EU from the COVID-19 pan- sides of Poland’s border by land from Kaliningrad or Ukraine. q

Storm hits southwest Japan, leaves 1 dead, another missing

By YURI KAGEYAMA storm slammed southwest- person dead and another fectural official. a window at a pachinko
Associated Press ern Japan with rainfall and missing, as it swerved north Nanmadol has sustained parlor was shattered in Ka-
TOKYO (AP) — A tropical winds Monday, leaving one toward Tokyo. winds blowing at 108 kilo- goshima city, southwestern
Residential streets were meters per hour (67 mph) Japan. Bullet trains and
flooded with muddy water and gusts up to 162 kilo- airlines suspended ser-
from rivers, and swathes of meters (100 miles) per hour, vice. Warnings were issued
homes lost power after Ty- according to the Japan about landslides and swell-
phoon Nanmadol made Meteorological Agency. ing rivers. Convenience
landfall in the Kyushu re- Tens of thousands of peo- store chains and delivery
gion Sunday then weak- ple spent the night at gym- services temporarily shut-
ened to a tropical storm. nasiums and other facilities tered in southwestern Ja-
A man was found dead in a precautionary evacu- pan, while some highways
early Monday in his car that ation of vulnerable homes. were closed and people
was sunk in water on a farm, More than 60 people were had some problems with
said Yoshiharu Maeda, a injured, including those cell phone connections.
city hall official in charge who fell down in the rain or The storm is forecast to
of disasters at Miyakonojo, were hit by shards of glass, continue dumping rain on
Miyazaki prefecture. Sep- according to Japanese its northeasterly path over
arately, one person was media reports. Japan’s main island of Hon-
Rescuers conduct a search operation at the site of a landslide missing after a cottage was Torrential winds smashed shu, before moving over
in Mimata, Miyazaki Prefecture, southern Japan, Monday Sept. caught in a landslide, ac- signboards. A construc- Tokyo and then northeast-
19, 2022.
Associated Press cording to a Miyazaki pre- tion crane snapped and ern Japan.q