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Russian embassy reminds Estonia that it agreed to its current borders

At the same time, the embassy reiterated that the 1920 Treaty of Tartu had receded into history
Russian-Estonian border Telia/Shutterstock/FOTODOM
Russian-Estonian border
© Telia/Shutterstock/FOTODOM

TALLINN, November 20. /TASS/. Estonia has officially confirmed that it has no territorial claims to Russia by signing a border treaty in 2014, the Russian embassy in Tallinn said in a statement on Wednesday.

"In connection with more and more frequent claims by certain Estonian officials about Russia’s ‘annexation’ of a portion of the Estonian territory, the embassy would like to reiterate that both sides confirmed the absence of mutual territorial claims in 2014 border treaties," the statement says.

"The Russian side has not been officially notified about this stance being reviewed. The Estonian side’s work to develop infrastructure at its joint border with Russia, which takes serious effort and money, clearly confirms those agreements," it said.

At the same time, the embassy reiterated that the 1920 Treaty of Tartu had receded into history.

"The Russian stance was and will remain unchanged: the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty now belongs to historical archives, following Estonia’s accession to the Soviet Union in 1940," Russian diplomats said. "By establishing diplomatic relations in 1991, our countries embarked upon the course of equal dialogue and cooperation, opening a new page in the history of bilateral contacts."

"Claims about international recognition of Estonia within 1940 borders by all states are untrue," the statement said.

"We are convinced that attempts to speculate on the issue of some kind of ‘annexation’ will only result in increased confrontation in relations with Russia, which runs absolutely contrary to interests and hopes of the absolute majority of Estonians, who are seeking to develop neighborly relations with our country," it said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Wednesday that Kremlin viewed Tallinn’s territorial claims to Moscow as inadmissible.

Russian-Estonian border issue

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said on Tuesday that the ratification of the treaty between Estonia and Russia currently has no prospects due to differences over the Tartu Peace Treaty. Earlier, Estonian Minister of the Interior Mart Helme claimed that Russia still had not returned 5.2% of the territory to Estonia. According to Helme, Tallinn is willing to wait for this issue to be resolved in accordance with international law.

On Wednesday, Parliament Speaker Henn Polluaas who claimed that Russia needs to cede a territory back to Estonia in accordance with the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty.

A Russian diplomatic source told TASS earlier that Helme was most probably referring to Ivangorod in the Leningrad region and part of the Pechora district in the Pskov region. Under the treaty concluded by Russia and Estonia on February 2, 1920, those territories belonged to Estonia. They were incorporated by Russia after Estonia had joined the Soviet Union.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has said more than once that the Treaty of Tartu lost force the moment Estonia became part of the Soviet Union.