MOSCOW, June 22 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement today that said the country did not believe it could ratify the text of a border treaty with Estonia that contained amendments made by the Estonian parliament.
The statement was issued in connection with the Estonian parliament's June 20 ratification of a treaty on the Russian-Estonian border and the delimitation of the sea in the Gulf of Narva and the Gulf of Finland.
"Russia acted honestly relying on Tallinn's official assurances that Estonia would not take any steps to torpedo the process. Unfortunately, the assurances were not fulfilled," the statement said.
"The text of the treaty ratified by the Estonian parliament includes unacceptable provisions that tie the treaties with internal Estonian documents that do not correspond with objective realities and create a false context for the interpretation and fulfillment of the provisions. Therefore it makes the previous longstanding negotiations senseless," the statement said.
The Foreign Ministry said Russian society had reacted negatively to the border treaty as ratified by the Estonian parliament.
"In light of the position taken by the Estonian parliament, the treaties cannot be submitted to the Russian Federation parliament for ratification," the ministry said.
Yesterday, Alexander Yakovenko, the official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that the text of the ratified treaty contained references to documents that had incorrect legal and political provisions that had nothing in common with the original essence of the law.
According to the diplomat, Estonia referred to the expired Tartu peace treaty of 1920 and the Declaration of the State Assembly on the Restoration of Constitutional State Authority of October 7, 1992, which contains allegations about "the Soviet Union's aggression against Estonia in 1940," an occupation that lasted decades and the unconstitutional inclusion of Estonia in the USSR.
"Russia warned its Estonian partners that attempts to use a biased assessment of the events in the 1930-1940s in the Baltics might complicate the process of the border treaties' ratification in the Russian Federation Council," Yakovenko said.
He added that, unfortunately, Tallinn had not followed this advice, and so had thereby taken onto itself full responsibility for the future of the border agreements.
