Estonian, Russian scientists ties ’severed’ after years of cooperation

Estonian and Russian scientists  who for years have taken test samples some of the regions lakes have had heir ties severed.

It comes after Estonian scientists were barred from entering Russian waters. The scientists from both sides were meant to take samples from Lake Peipsi, Lake Pskov, and Lake Lämmijärv.

The cooperation between Estonian and Russian scientists and now both parties conduct monitoring independently, Postimees Online reports.

"This time, the Russian border guard did not allow our research ship to the Russian side," Estonian Environment Ministry Water Department Adviser Ago Jaani said.

The reason given was that the lake is not named in the Russian Federation year 2012 regulation, which lists the water bodies, where foreign vessels are allowed to sail.

The refusal came unexpectedly, since our scientists have worked twice on the Russian side of Lake Peipsi already this year and a few days before the joint expedition that was to start on July 30 everything seemed to be in order.

Estonian-Russian joint monitoring on Lake Peipsi has been organized for 13 years and so far there have been no legal or political problems.

Estonian specialists with colleagues from Pskov were monitoring on the Estonian side of the Peipsi aquatic area last week.

By the end of next week, Estonian scientists should get samples from Russian monitoring stations too. In late August, a joint monitoring is planned at the Narva Water Reservoir, but currently it does not have all the necessary approvals yet.