MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - The signing of the Russo-Estonian border treaties is a major factor of ensuring the security and territorial integrity of Russia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the ceremony. "These treaties shall formalize the border as it is marked now, along the administrative border between the former RSFR and the former Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (when both republics were incorporated in the Soviet Union)," the minister said. He expressed the hope that the ratification of the treaties will proceed without fail in the two parliaments.
Lavrov spoke against attempts to use history politically and against historical speculations.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia demand that Russia should recognize the fact of occupation of the three Baltic states by the former Soviet Union in 1940.
The minister did not provide reasons for the procrastination with the signing of the treaty, which was drafted back in 1997.
"I prefer spotlighting our future relations rather than trying to determine why the treaty has been signed only today," he said.
The issue of the Russian-speaking minority in Estonia "is not a side issue," the Russian minister said replying to a question by an Estonian journalist about Russia's alleged procrastination with signing the document by linking it to "a side issue of the situation of the national minorities in Estonia."
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet stated that his country hopes that the signing of the border treaties would stimulate the development of Russia-Estonia relationship.
He also noted that Russia and the European Union maintain an open dialogue on human rights. According to him, Estonia welcomes the open discussion of all problems in this sphere.
