In Word and In Deed
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin sealed yesterday, September 1, 2005, the ruling that has disavowed frontier agreements made with Estonia in May. Officially, Estonia has ignored the move of the Russian president, perhaps, because it was more than expected in Tallinn - Russia’s Foreign Ministry actually disavowed the agreements in late June, the Cabinet upheld that decision in August.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Estonian counterpart Urmas Paet sealed frontier agreements on marine space division (the Gulf of Narva and the Gulf of Finland) in Moscow on May 18, 2005. The agreements secure the administrative border between former Soviet Union’s Russia and Estonia with the slight adjustment, i.e. “on terms of the adequate territorial compensation). Under the agreements, the parties were to relinquish to each other as much as 128.6 hectares of land and 11.4 sq. km. of lake surface.
Estonian parliament ratified the agreements in June, having added, however, the reference to the Tartu Peace Agreement made between Estonia and Soviet Russia in 1920 and the reference to the Soviet occupation of 1940. The thing is that under the Tartu Agreement, Estonian territory was widener than the territory of Soviet Estonia. In particular, pre-war Estonia included Pechora Region (today’s Pskov Region) and Ivangorod (part of the Leningrad Region).
Moscow was outraged. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rebuffed in no time, pledging Russia will annual the signing and they will have to start the talks all over again.
In word, Putin upheld the annulment on July 3, 2005. In deed, the president sealed the respective ruling yesterday, September 1, 2005, obviously to the great perplexity of Estonian media and policymakers.
by
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 02, 2005
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