"Due to Russia's military action, we advise against non-urgent travel to Belarus. We recommend Estonian nationals currently in Belarus reconsider their need to remain in Belarus and return to Estonia if possible," the ministry wrote on its website.

Estonian nationals should also register their stay on the ministry's Reisi Targalt site.

The ministry had earlier on Thursday already urged Estonian residents in Ukraine to leave that country as soon as possible.

Tens of thousands of Russian Federation troops had been in Belarus in the weeks leading up to the invasion, ostensibly for a large-scale military exercise. While the personnel were due to leave once the exercise was finished last weekend, they remained there, on the pretext of the deteriorating security situation in eastern Ukraine which culminated in Russia's "recognition" of the "independence and sovereignty" of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions earlier in the week, followed by the full-scale invasion early on Thursday.

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