Estonia can accept on its territory no more than 50 thousand refugees from Ukraine.

It is this number that appears in the discussion around the additional state budget, which is being discussed by the government and the coalition.

This was stated by the Minister of Social Protection of the Republic Signe Riisalo.

“This is the limit at which we will need to honestly say that we do not have more places where we can accommodate people.

In this case, we would have to build refugee camps, ”the Estonian portal ERR quotes her as saying.

At the same time, Riisalo noted, right now there are places for accommodation only for 35 thousand.

“For 15 thousand, you still need to find (living space. -

RT

) and quickly make repairs,” the minister added.

According to her, the authorities have not yet determined exactly what amount of expenses for refugees will be included in the additional budget, however, the Ministry of Social Protection gives figures of €25 per person per day, or €10,000 per year.

Riisalo also clarified that those refugees who start working or receive subsistence allowance will pay their own housing costs.

According to the Estonian Police and Border Guard Department, more than 24,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the country since February 27, of which almost 12,000 have applied for temporary protection.

  • Estonian Minister of Social Affairs Signe Riisalo

  • Legion Media

  • © Scanpix

New crisis

Meanwhile, other European countries also declare problems with the placement of Ukrainian refugees.

Thus, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on the air of the Czech Television channel on March 27 that the country had already received more than 300 thousand refugees, which in total is 3% of the population of the republic.

Ten days before, he explained that the Czech Republic was on the verge of being able to safely accept those fleeing the war.

In turn, the Ministers of the Interior of Germany and Poland, Nancy Feser and Mariusz Kaminsky, on March 25 appealed to the European Commission with a call to review the distribution of refugees by country and provide additional financial assistance.

In a letter to European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas and European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, the ministers proposed the introduction of a lump sum payment of €1,000 from EU funds for each person admitted to the country, as well as the distribution of refugees to other countries.

However, the EC rejected the last proposal.

“We are not working towards any quotas or any distribution of migrants,” Ylva Johansson said on March 29 on N-TV.

Instead, the European Commission proposed the principle of voluntary acceptance of Ukrainian refugees.

This will take into account the factors of the number of refugees admitted, the total number of all asylum requests received in the past year and the population of the host country.

In particular, an excessive flow of Ukrainians was reported in large Polish cities - Warsaw and Krakow.

According to the newspaper Rzeczpospolita, in just two weeks about 100,000 refugees arrived in Krakow, and 200,000 in Warsaw.

“More people we are not able to accept, absorb as a city.

We are talking about employment, places in schools and kindergartens, about services in institutions, ”Monika Hilashek, spokeswoman for the mayor of Krakow, told Rzeczpospolita on March 10.

According to her, the city has already spent 14 million zł out of crisis reserves to help refugees, out of their annual budget of 19 million zł.

Even in France, they noted that the number of arriving Ukrainian refugees will be the biggest challenge for Europe over the past few decades.

As the country's President Emmanuel Macron said on March 17, presenting his election program, he plans to change the rules for issuing residence permits and tighten the migration policy against violators of public order.

In particular, they will be expelled from the country.

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as of March 28, more than 3.9 million people have left Ukraine since the start of the Russian special military operation.

The UNHCR notes that the main EU countries where they arrive are Poland (over 2.3 million), Romania (over 602 thousand) and Hungary (almost 360 thousand).

  • An employee of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees provides assistance to Ukrainian refugees in Moldova

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Matteo Placucci/NurPhoto

Hostages of US politics

Experts interviewed by RT note that the Estonian authorities today are faced with the real consequences of the course they are following towards Russia, following US directives.

“On the eve of the military operation, the Estonian leadership simply did not believe in the possibility of the current turn of events.

And when everything happened, Tallinn did not expect that such a number of refugees would go to them.

After all, refugees always tend to Poland, Germany.

And Estonia has nothing much to offer them.

And now they don’t know what to do with these people, since they all need to be provided with at least minimal benefits and employed, ”Sergei Margulis, senior lecturer at the Department of International Politics and Foreign Regional Studies at the Institute of Social Sciences of the RANEPA, explained in a comment to RT.

He also noted that in Estonia they are not ready to sacrifice their comfort even for the sake of "friendship" with Ukraine.

“It is one thing to make loud anti-Russian statements and quite another to face the discomfort of their consequences in the form of migrants.

And first of all, the overabundance of refugees affects the lives of the local population, which far from always massively supported the steps of their government, ”the expert added.

In turn, the president of the Center for Strategic Communications Dmitry Abzalov, in an interview with RT, drew attention to the fact that the current influx of refugees from Ukraine exceeds all previous ones from eastern countries.

“Almost 4 million refugees are quite large numbers that are disproportionate even with the previous migration crisis.

And this is facilitated by the fact that Ukraine has the status of an associate member.

This means that Ukrainian citizens can formally enter almost any EU country with tourist visas.

And, of course, now the most difficult situation with their reception is observed in the first zone of European countries bordering Ukraine, ”Abzalov said.

He also stressed that the current situation is further complicated by the fact that Europe has not fully survived the previous influx of refugees in 2015-2016, as well as the one that occurred after the Afghan events.

“Therefore, flows of millions of refugees are a very serious burden on social infrastructure and budgets,” the expert added.

In turn, Olga Potemkina, head of the Department of European Integration Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed out that the current wave of asylum seekers is unfolding against the backdrop of the absence of any legal regulatory acts in the EU.

“Since September last year, the pact on migration, which allows regulating the situation in case of an emergency influx, has not been adopted, because the EU countries cannot agree on who will provide what assistance.

At the same time, Brussels allocates funds for refugees, but they also still will not reach their addressees, since it is not clear who and in what volume should receive them, ”the analyst explained.

She also expressed the opinion that in Europe they simply did not expect such a large number of people to rush to them.

However, according to her, countries like Poland will now actively use this situation to get more preferences and subsidies from the EU for themselves.

  • Accommodation point for Ukrainian refugees in Estonia

  • Legion Media

  • © Scanpix

“I don’t know if Warsaw will succeed or not, but now there is a situation where everything is possible, all principles are being violated within the EU,” Potemkina said.

At the same time, Dmitry Abzalov is sure that the unfolding migrant crisis is the direct fault of the European countries themselves, most of which are members of NATO and support the North Atlantic course dictated by the United States towards confrontation with Russia.

“However, the EU has not learned how to fully calculate the problems of military conflicts and their consequences.

Suppose tomorrow the situation will stabilize and an agreement will be concluded between Moscow and Kiev.

But will this improve the situation with infrastructure or the economy, and all citizens who can return will find a job?

The consequences of such long-term actions, starting with the war in Iraq, from Afghanistan and in other territories, are not fully thought out by politicians, which leads to serious economic costs, ”the analyst explained.

Dmitry Danilov, head of the European Security Department at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, agrees with this point of view.

According to him, the reason for the troubles of the European Union is that the security of most of its member countries is provided by a biased military alliance.

“All major security decisions are in fact made not by the Europeans themselves, but by the United States.

NATO's focus on US strategic interests is clear.

And in Washington, a priori, they are set up for confrontation with Russia, from which Europe suffers as a result, ”concluded the interlocutor of RT.