Border agreement to be signed

TALLINN - Russian President Vladimir Putin gave orders to the Russian Foreign Ministry to sign the border agreement with Estonia and the agreement on the border line at the Narva Bay and Gulf of Finland, reports Interfax. The Estonian government approved of the border agreement drafts on May 23 this year and the Russian government approved of the border agreements on Sept. 20.

After the foreign ministers sign the agreement, the parliaments have to ratify it.
Two provisions have been added to the draft Estonian-Russian border agreement as compared to the agreement that was in the works in 2005, and the Russian side has agreed to those. The first provision states that the agreement regulates only issues concerning the state border, and the second confirms the lack of reciprocal territorial claims.

Estonian and Russian foreign ministers signed the border agreement between Estonia and Russia in May 2005. The Riigikogu ratified the agreement that summer but added a preamble that states that the new border agreement changes partly the state border line determined with the Tartu Peace Treaty of 1920, but won’t affect the rest of the matters regulated by the treaty. Less than a month later Russia announced that it would withdraw its signature from the border agreement, claiming that the preamble that Estonia added enables the presenting of territorial claims against Russia. Estonia has repeatedly said that it doesn’t have any territorial claims against Russia.