Estonia’s Border Costs Rise By €4 Million As Russia Land Swap Is Scrapped

Construction of Estonia's eastern border infrastructure took into account the fact that certain land in the southeast was slated to be swapped with Russia and has already left part of it on the far side of the fence.

Some 12 hectares of state-owned land in the Setomaa Municipality village of Marinova is located outside of Estonia's completed new border infrastructure. I Photo: Ad Meskens Wikimedia Commons

Now that it's clear that the land swap is off, parts of the completed infrastructure will be rebuilt at an extra cost of €4 million, Mirjam Mottus reported for public broadcaster ERR News.

Located about halfway between Estonia's Koidula and Luhamaa border checkpoints, some 12 hectares of state-owned land in the Setomaa Municipality village of Marinova is located outside of Estonia's completed new border infrastructure.

Adjacent to this is Marinova Forest, a nearly 69-hectare tract of land that had likewise initially been slated to be transferred to Russia.

While this land currently remains Estonian territory, signs demarcating the border regime zone nonetheless prohibit access to it.

"The concern is that this land is either no longer guarded at all or that Estonia is not behind here," said local resident Vello Pai. "Even so, the state should rent it out or log [timber] here itself; there should be plenty of forest."