The project will include several kilometers of new roads and fencing.

These will hem in border anomaly areas, the most famous of which is the "Saatse boot," and which had initially been expected to be exchanged with equivalent areas of territory from the Russian side once the border treaty was ratified.

Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets (SDE) told AK: "Since we all understand that we will now not be swapping any land with Russia, the fencing must be built there."

"The government needs to allocate additional funds towards border construction. We are talking about approximately €4 million euros, with €2.6 million going towards road construction," Läänemets went on.

"The Transport Administration (Transpordiamet) will undertake this project," the minister added.

"This involves 4.7 kilometers of new roads and 1.7 kilometers of existing roads managed by the RMK, which need to be upgraded," Läänemets went on.

The upgrades would include making the roads capable of accommodating larger vehicles.

Setomaa Rural Municipality Mayor Raul Kudre (SDE) said the fencing "Primarily provides a sense of security for local residents, ensuring they can get home in the future."

"This sense of security has certainly been disrupted by the ongoing conflict, as indicated by the fact that whereas border guards used to drive through the boot, they haven't done so for a long time now," Kudre added.

One local resident, Jüri Lassik lives has to cross slivers of Russian territory twice in order to travel from his home village of Sesniki to his workplace in Värska.

Laasik said he appreciated the government's forward planning, especially since the current detour is over 30 kilometers long. His only request was that the new road be paved.

"It's very good that the state is considering this," Laasik told AK.

"Currently, we have a very good road here. Before asphalting, the situation was terrible. We had to wash the car practically every day, due to the mud, and we certainly don't want any gravel roads," he added, referring to typical road coverings on more minor routes in rural areas.

Over a decade ago the hope was that a treaty on the present day border between Estonia and the Russian Federation would be ratified, and with it a territory swap would allow the "Saatse boot" zone to remain with Estonia.

The declining security situation since then, starting with Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and culminating in the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, means this is no longer expected.

Instead, the government is constructing a border zone around these anomalies, and new roads to ensure that residents of villages like Sesniki or Lutepää do not get cut off if Russia were to bar transit through its territory.

The Värska-Ulitina road segment crosses Russian territory twice, to a total length of almost one kilometer.

The status quo has been that driving through these zones is permissible, but travel on foot or by bicycle is forbidden and drivers may at no point stop within the Russian-controlled area, also raising questions about what happens if a vehicle should happen to break down at that point.

To get to Lutepää village, travelers must traverse Russian territory due to its location, and there is no route bypassing the village.

The new detour roads are expected to be completed by 2026.

The border as set out in the treaty concluded in 1920 between the newly independent Estonian republic and the fledgling Soviet Russian state lay somewhat to the east of the current frontier, which was put in place with the Soviet occupation of Estonia.

As noted the hope had long been that a border treaty be ratified by the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union's successor state (as codified in a Russian constitutional amendment), but with the security situation as it its this seems unlikely.

The invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year, served to concentrate minds on an already underway border infrastructure project.

This is particularly relevant to the far southeast where the border was not clearly demarcated (the Setomaa region in fact straddles to border); much of the rest of the eastern border follows watercourses.

Youtube influence Tom Scott several years ago made a video driving along the Saatse boot road.

https://atlas.err.ee/content/edit/1609348725