The Estonian government decided on Thursday to forward the Estonian-Russian border treaty and the treaty on the delimitation of maritime areas of the two countries in the Gulf of Finland and Narva Bay to the parliament for ratification.
Estonian govt decides to pass on border treaty for ratification
8th October 2015, 13:02
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The national border to be agreed by the two sides differs minimally from the temporary control line that is guarded as the state border now. In the process both sides will hand over to each other certain land areas, and the changes to the territory of both sides will be equal both on the ground and on lakes. Most of the land that Estonia is about to hand to Russia is already owned by the state. The remaining part that still belongs to private owners has to be transfered to the state.
The Estonian government endorsed the drafts of the treaties on May 23, 2013 and the foreign ministers of the two countries signed the agreements in Moscow on Feb. 18, 2014.
The treaties have to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries and they will step into effect 30 days after the exchange of the letters of ratification.
The government first initiated a bill for the ratification of the treaties on March 7, 2014 and the bill passed its first reading on Apr. 16 the same year. As a result of the end of the term of the 12th Estonian Riigikogu in spring 2015 the bill was dropped from parliamentary proceedings and has to be filed anew.