Finnish national fined after border zone trespass
A Finnish national who approached a Russian border post, with the intention of photographing it, was apprehended and fined by the Estonian authorities at the weekend, BNS reports.
The individual, aged around 30, approached the border post, which lies in Russian Federation territory, while remaining on the Estonian side of the border, at around 4.40 p.m. on Saturday, it is reported.
The incident took place in Võru County, in the South-East of Estonia.
The individual was apparently acting on their own initiative and was a tourist in Estonia. He or she infringed regulations restricting movement within the border zone, and was apprehended returning from the border zone on a motorbike, according to a Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) spokesperson.
PPA personnel were alerted to the intrusion via surveillance equipment; the individual had reportedly already left the restricted zone when they attended the scene.
The amount the individual was fined has not been reported. Proper demarcation of Estonia's eastern border is an ongoing project, though restricted border zones are clearly signposted in English. The Estonian, Russian and Latvian borders converge in the southeast of the country. Since Latvia and Estonia are both in the Schengen Zone, E.U. citizens and others enjoy free movement between those two countries.
Editor: Andrew Whyte
