Eerik Purgel, the head of the border guard office of the eastern prefecture, said the Russian border guard's significantly slower-than-usual processing has led to large queues of people forming on Thursday and Friday on the bridge between the two countries.

"The number of border crossers has been normal yesterday and today, and the PPA has been working at a normal pace, but border crossers have to wait for a long time on the Narva Bridge to get to Russia. We therefore closed the border crossing earlier than usual yesterday to protect people's health and safety," he said.

The PPA said the number of people waiting can reach a dangerous limit and poses a threat to public order. It may also be hard for people to find accommodation in the city if they cannot cross before the border shuts at 11 p.m.

Due to these factors, the PPA decided to close the border for the weekend.

"Unfortunately, there are no indications that Russia's border control activities will improve in the near future. In this context, the border crossing point will remain closed on the outbound side over the weekend and we advise people to cross the border in southern Estonia. We will monitor the situation and decide on further actions," Purgel added.

On Friday evening, Minister of Interior Lauri Läänemets (SDE) said people are still waiting to cross the border. "There is a queue at the bridge, where around 500 people are waiting to get into Russia. Really, there is no queue behind the border crossing. But there is no reason to think that this situation will change tomorrow. The Russians for some reason are very slow in letting people over to their side, i.e. preventing people from moving," he told ERR.

The minister says this is further proof of the Russian authorities' unpredictability.

"The Russian border guards have failed to ensure normal border traffic on their side. Overly time-consuming customs and border procedures also prevent normal border traffic for its own citizens, resulting in artificial queues and a situation where some Russian citizens cannot get home at night. In this situation, our aim is to prevent any problems at the border crossing point, in the interests of both the peace of the local population and the well-being of the border crossers themselves. We have therefore decided to close the border crossing point for a few days. We also continue to advise people to avoid traveling to Russia in general," said the minister.

It will still be possible to enter Estonia, but not for three hours on Sunday morning between 9.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. when the Victory Day parade takes place. The event takes place in the immediate vicinity of the border crossing and access is limited.

The parade takes place in a different city every year, and this is the first time it will take place in Narva for 28 years.

"We close the border at 11 p.m. until 7 a.m. under the current arrangements and now, at 11 p.m. tonight, when the border is closed, it will not open until 7 a.m. Monday morning," Läänemets explained.

The border crossing points at Koidula and Luhamaa in south Estonia are working as usual. The PPA will monitor the situation in both areas and said the situation can change quickly.

"The PPA urges everyone not to visit Russia – we are prepared to close all border crossing points immediately, and should you need to do so, getting back to Estonia will be extremely difficult," Purgel added.

Bus companies are aware of the situation

Läänemets said the PPA is also communicating with bus companies that travel to and from Narva.

"As far as I know, the PPA's representatives at the bus station also inform people that when traveling to Narva, if you want to cross the border, you will not be able to do so in the following days," Läänemets said.

"It may also happen that some means of transport will be set in motion from Narva towards Luhamaa or Koidula. Today already shows that twice the average number of people crossed the border on foot from Koidula, i.e. some information has already reached some parts of the population," the minister added.

Läänemets said the Narva authorities are ready to offer food, drink, help, and overnight accommodation to people waiting to cross the border.

Läänemets: No reason to believe Russia planning an attack

Läänemets told ERR the PPA does not suspect Russia is planning an attack on Victory Day (June 23).

"The standard procedure in such situations is that the PPA and the Internal Security Service prepare their threat assessments and have a plan of action accordingly. Of course, it is taken into account that all sorts of incidents may occur, but I want to assure you that we have no reason to believe that Russia is planning any particular attack or anything of that kind. No, Victory Day will take place, Victory Day will take place peacefully, and the people who cannot cross the border there at the moment and who are perhaps angry will be given information, will be directed somewhere else where they will be able to cross the border or will have to wait. So there is no need to worry," the interior minister explained.

Läänemets said there is no information about why the Russian border guard is currently processing people so slowly.

"What we know is that yesterday, when there was a queue of people at the border, they could no longer cross and the PPA decided to close the border earlier than 11 p.m., then within the next hour, very quickly, people were able to cross after the exit was closed, so to speak, by Estonia. It was seen that it was also possible to do so very quickly during the day yesterday. So some kind of decisions have been made there. Of course, there is also the observation balloon up there, which is being monitored by cameras on the Estonian side, so one can assume that this has something to do with Estonia's Victory Day, but we know how to counter this and we will not be disturbed by it," he said.

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