According to Cahkna, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia has not given a constructive answer to the proposal made by Estonia in July.
“In its response, Russia raised the ratification of the border agreement as a prerequisite for joint measurements of the shipping lane, which is not relevant and in no way related to Russia’s May incident on the Narva River,” Cahkna said.
He added that regardless of the ratification status of the border agreement, Russia has no right to cross the temporary control line and dismantle border buoys in Estonian waters without authorization.
Cahkna said that with its aggression against Ukraine, Russia violates all its international obligations, including the UN Charter, and therefore he does not consider it useful to conclude or ratify any agreements with Russia.
“However, we still believe that there is a need for a balanced and constructive solution to the situation arising from the removal of the buoys, and we believe that Estonia’s initial proposal to carry out joint measurements in the Narva River to clarify the exact line of the shipping lane, which has probably been in place for decades changed due to natural conditions,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
He added that Estonia continues to maintain close contacts with allies and partners and is considering its next steps.
It has already been reported that on July 15, a representative of the Russian embassy was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, who was presented with a diplomatic note with a proposal for Russia to conduct joint measurements of the waterway on the border river of the two countries in Narva.
Earlier, Estonia submitted a note to Russia, in which they demanded to explain why the Russian border guards removed 25 buoys that the Estonian border guards had placed to mark the waterway on the night of May 23. In response, Russia claimed that Estonia had placed these buoys in Russian waters, but Estonia did not agree with this statement. Russia did not provide any evidence to support its interpretation that the buoys were on Russian territory, the press service of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.
In its note, Estonia noted that the countries appear to have different understandings of the direction of the waterway that forms the basis of the line of control between Estonia and Russia. Since the situation in the river may have changed over the decades due to natural conditions, Estonia proposed joint measurements to clarify the current situation. The last time the bottom of the Narva River was measured almost 20 years ago.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, Tallinn definitely does not agree with such a way of resolving disagreements, when buoys are removed under the cover of night instead of peaceful dialogue. In diplomatic messages, Estonia has called on Russia to resolve possible disagreements about the exact location of the buoys in a balanced manner. Joint measurements of the waterway would provide an opportunity to resolve disagreements, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia emphasized.
Russia has not yet returned the removed buoys to Estonia.
The border agreement between Estonia and Russia was signed in 2014, but neither side has ratified it so far.
2024-08-29 21:46:35