Government closes legal loophole on eastern border
The government has legally established the temporary Estonian-Russian border line, making changes in the State Border Act.
The temporary border line will act as the legal basis for marking the the border until the actual border treaty between the two nations is ratified.
The temporary control line overlaps the line fixed in the unratified border treaty by around 90 percent.
The Russian-Estonian border treaty was signed last February by the nations' foreign ministers, but is awaiting ratification by the parliaments of both Russia and Estonia. The Estonian side has signaled that they are ready to proceed while there are few updates coming out of Moscow.
Aleksey Pushkov, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Duma, said at the end of November that there is little possibility for signing the treaty in the near future due to the current political climate and Estonia's behavior in promoting sanctions against Russia.
Editor: J.M. Laats