Estonia sets temporary border line with Russia

The Estonian government has legally established the temporary Estonian-Russian border line, making changes in the State Border Act, according to Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) report on Friday.

The temporary border line will act as the legal basis for marking the border until the actual border treaty between the two nations is ratified. And the temporary control line overlaps the line fixed in the unratified border treaty by around 90 percent, the ERR report said.

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.

However, Aleksey Pushkov, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Russian Duma, said at the end of November last year 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.

Last October, Estonian Interior Minister Hanno Pevkur announced to the public that the government plans to establish a new border control task force to carry out special operations for securing its border safety.

Late last October Estonia began their huge project of clarification of its 136-km Eastern land borders along with Russia by marking down path of the border and clearing it from trees and brush. Endit