Estland en Rusland lossen grensgeschil niet op (en)

Moscow is pulling its signature from a border treaty signed with Estonia in May after nearly a decade of talks.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed the move during a visit to Finland on Monday (27 June), saying the Estonians only had themselves to blame.

"Estonia did exactly what it promised not to do - insert political statements in the accord", indicated Mr Lavrov.

The treaty was ratified in the Estonian parliament last week (20 June) after a reference to the Soviet occupation of Estonia was added to the preamble.

The political declaration was added at the request of the Estonian governing Res Publica party without prior agreement with Moscow, which saw the move as domestic politics being played at the expense of Russia.

Moscow has refused to label the five-decade Soviet stay in the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as an "occupation".

"There will be no accord... In order to regulate border issues, we will have to restart negotiations", Mr Lavrov said, adding that he hoped the dispute would not affect relations between Russia and the rest of the European Union, which Estonia joined in 2004.

The treaty would have fixed borders as they were when both countries were part of the Soviet Union, with sea borders in the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Narva in the Baltic Sea.

Estonia had accepted to give up about 5 percent of its prewar territory as set out in the Tartu Peace Treaty of 1920 as part of the deal.

Another border treaty with the Baltic neighbour, Latvia, is also on hold because of Latvian demands that the border be set according to a treaty signed in 1920.