Russian FSB reportedly asking travelers crossing Estonian border about their attitudes toward E.U.

Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers on the Russia-Estonia border are requiring travelers to fill out a form answering personal information and questions about attitudes to the war in Ukraine, a source told independent outlet Mediazona.

The outlet published photographs of the form, which requires both those entering or leaving Russia to provide their full names, citizenship, place of residence in Russia and abroad, passport details, information about military service, route of travel, and IMEI number (mobile device identifier).

The form also requires travelers to indicate if they have any relatives living in Russia or Ukraine, connections with special service employees, names of people they know fighting on the side of Ukraine, and their “attitude toward the actions of the European Union leadership, which supports the nationalist regime in Ukraine.”

One of Mediazona’s sources said that the forms are given selectively and they assume that only those with dual citizenship are required to fill them out. The source added that, according to people they know who were questioned last year, the border officers also examine phones by connecting them to a special program. “They’re apparently searching for certain keywords, and, as they say, even find what has already been deleted. They compare the IMEI with the number written on the form. They say that it usually takes around 15 minutes, they ask about attitudes [toward the war],” said the source.

Mediazona’s source says that the border officers started conducting the checks when the former Ukrainian lawmaker Illia Kyva was killed in December 2023.