Officials said the amount of traffic traveling between Estonia and Russia has fallen significantly since the start of the year after the border crossing at Ivangord closed to vehicle traffic on February 1.

In January there were 170,000 crossings but this fell to 108,000 the following month. In February, around 13,000 crossed at night.

It is now proposed to shut the border between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. every night indefinitely from May. 

PPA Deputy Director General Veiko Kommusaar said taking this into account – as well as Russia's invasion of Ukraine – makes it reasonable to close the crossing.

"This decision is supported by a number of factors. Firstly, the number of border crossers at night has significantly decreased, making it impractical to keep the border crossing point open 24 hours a day," he said, in a statement on Tuesday.

"Secondly, in our view, it is not right that, at a time when Russia is waging a full-scale war against its neighbor and Estonia does not recommend visiting Russia, the PPA is spending Estonian taxpayers' money to keep the Narva border crossing open around the clock."

The official said the border point will still be staffed 24 hours a day.

Strong checks are still needed to catch sanctions evaders, said Ursula Riimaa, deputy director general of the Tax and Customs Board for customs.

"In our view, international trade has already been diverted from Narva, and in the future, we will concentrate on daytime controls of travelers' baggage and cargo at Narva customs," she said.

The ministry will send a draft of the new plans to the government as soon as possible. "We hope for a decision in a couple of weeks, then we will be able to put in place the new regime as early as May," said Joosep Kaasik, undersecretary for internal security at the Ministry of the Interior.

The official reiterated that Estonia has consistently warned against travel to Russia and said the border can close suddenly due to unexpected events.

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