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Russia, Estonia set for border deals

MOSCOW, February 18, 1:15 /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold talks with his Estonian colleague Urmas Paet on Tuesday about “the current status of and prospects for bilateral relations, ” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

The two ministers will discuss the two countries’ views on the key international issues , Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports.

Agenda for Paet’s visit to Moscow includes signing of agreements on Russian-Estonian state border and the demarcation of water areas in the Narva Bay and the Gulf of Finland, as well as a diplomatic real estate agreement and a plan for the two ministries’ consultations in 2014-2015.

The Ministry noted “uneven” development of the two countries’ relations, on the one side characterized by “dynamic dialogue about issues of mutual interest, strengthening of interregional ties” and active cooperation on bordering territories, a rapidly developing trade and investment cooperation, as well as gradual growth of trade turnover. Besides, the Ministry described Estonia as quite an attractive country for Russian companies, saying the interest is reciprocal.

On the other side, the Ministry said, the bilateral dialogue is still impeded by still unsatisfactory situation with the ethnic Russians’ rights in Estonia, as their position there is “far from modern human rights standards”, in particular in what concerns the absence of “progress in resolving the problem of amassed non-citizenship” and the ongoing education system reform that “ignores the needs of Russian-speaking minority”.

“We cannot ignore the issues so sensitive for Russian society as attempts to heroize the Nazis and their associates in the country and the government's connivance at it,” said the Ministry.

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