The ministry has proposed to keep the Koidula, Luhamaa, and Narva-1 border crossing points in Estonia open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. indefinitely. The current temporary restrictions expire at the end of August.
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Interior Minister Igor Taro stated that the purpose of the shortened working hours is to strengthen border security, improve response capabilities to incidents at the border, and tighten customs control.
At the same time, he noted that Estonia currently has no reason to completely close the border with Russia, despite ongoing public discussions on this issue.
“Our neighbors have made such decisions, but they faced completely different circumstances,” the minister said.
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BNS wrote that Estonia, a member of the European Union (EU) and NATO, has a 294 km long border with Russia and accuses Moscow of conducting hybrid operations.
The Estonian Border Guard Service has long advised its citizens not to travel to Russia unless necessary and warns that Russian officials may interrogate Baltic country citizens to obtain information or detain them.
Estonia introduced these restrictions after a series of incidents at the border over the past two years, including violations of airspace by Russian military aircraft and suspected cases of Russian border guards crossing Estonian territory without permission.
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