MOSCOW, September 19 (RIA Novosti) - The Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament, ratified at its first fall session on Wednesday a border treaty between Russia and Latvia.
The treaty, called upon to end a long-running territorial dispute with Russia's ex-Soviet neighbor, was signed in Moscow on March 27. Latvia's parliament ratified it on May 17, and the country's president approved the law on May 29.
A 9.5-kilometer (6-mile) sector of the border will have to be moved 30 meters (98 feet) to the west and will become Russian territory. The treaty was ratified by Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, on September 5.
By signing the treaty, European Union member Latvia officially recognized the post-Soviet borders with Russia, dropping its earlier territorial claims to the Pytalovsky District in Russia's Pskov Region, which was part of the Baltic country until World War II.
Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the Federation Council's international affairs committee, said at today's session that under the treaty, a border demarcation commission will be established as soon as possible.
"The treaty's ratification will complete the international legal formalization of the Russian-Latvian border," Margelov said.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov said earlier that the accord would advance Russia's relations with the 27-nation EU, and that the agreement does not make any excessive territorial concessions to the Latvian side, with Russia receiving 225 hectares and conceding 216 hectares.
