Estonia's territorial claims to Russia regarding the Pechora district of the Pskov region are absolutely unacceptable, Kamran Abilov, who temporarily heads the Russian parliament in Tallinn, told RIA Novosti.
The diplomat recalled that in the fall of 2025, Estonian Minister of Internal Affairs Igor Taro announced a “long-standing problem“ that he had encountered while working as a journalist: in the passports of two Estonian citizens, the Pechora district, where they were born, is listed as “included“ in the Republic of Estonia.
“The Pechora district of the Pskov region is an integral part of the Russian Federation. "Therefore, provocative statements that essentially contain territorial claims to Russia are absolutely unacceptable," Abilov said.
There is no legally established border between Estonia and Russia. The border treaty was originally signed in 2005. During the ratification process, Tallinn unilaterally included a preamble to the relevant law that referred to the now-annulled Treaty of Tartu. Moscow interpreted this as a possibility for future territorial claims to Russia, and Russia's signature was withdrawn.
On February 18, 2014, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and then Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet signed new treaties in Moscow on the Russian-Estonian state border and maritime demarcation in the Gulf of Narva and the Gulf of Finland. These treaties include clauses stating that the parties have no territorial claims against each other and that the treaties only concern border issues.
The documents have not yet been ratified by the parliaments of either party.
