Russian side believes border treaty with Estonia will be ratified in 1st half of 2016

Photo: TASS / Scanpix

The State Duma committee on international affairs on Wednesday submitted the treaty on the state border between Estonia and Russia for comments and expects the treaty to be ratified in the first half of next year, Tatyana Moskalkova, coordinator of the parliamentary group for liaison with the Estonian parliament and deputy chairman of the State Duma committee on CIS affairs, said.

«We expect the treaty on the border to be ratified simultaneously [by both parliaments] on the same day in the first half of 2016,» Moskalkova told reporters on Wednesday following a meeting with a delegation of the Estonian parliament in the State Duma.

She said all pre-ratification procedures may be completed in January-February 2016. «The Estonians needed to conduct government procedures and they have conducted them. The bill was submitted to the Estonian parliament for ratification yesterday,» the MP said.

The border treaty was first signed in 2005. However, after that Estonian parliamentarians included in its preamble the mention of the 1920 peace treaty of Tartu, Moscow withdrew its signature on the grounds that the reference may contain a potential territorial claim on Russia. The negotiations resumed in late 2012 and the new edition of the treaty on the border between Estonia and Russia was signed in February 2014.