Ecolines buses depart daily for Moscow from Tallinn Bus Station. The company also operates services to St. Petersburg.

Most transport services connected to Russia, including air travel and freight transport, are prohibited in the European Union. Bus services, however, are not subject to sanctions, with the exception of tourist trips organized by tour operators.

Andres Ruubas, head of the Public Transport Department at the Ministry of Regional Affairs, explained how permits are issued.

"To obtain a license, a company submits an application to our ministry, which forwards it to the Russian side through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We then wait for a response, which is usually provided to us by the carrier in the form of an extract from the Russian Federation's register of route operating permits. After that, we issue the operator a license and it may begin operations," Ruubas said.

Ruubas added that bus companies may either transport passengers to the Estonian-Russian border or carry them directly into Russia.

"We do not know exactly how they handle border crossings, but because full inspections are conducted there today, a bus can be delayed for about four hours. I think that in most cases carriers travel from here to the Luhamaa border crossing point, where passengers cross on foot. On the other side, a Russian partner waits with its own buses to take passengers onward to Moscow," Ruubas added.

The ministry cannot refuse to issue a route license because unlike Finland, Estonia has not closed its border with Russia, Ruubas noted.

"The European Union has not imposed any sanctions on Russia restricting the free movement of people. Therefore, we have no legal basis to refuse licenses for operating these routes," the official said.

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