MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. Estonia has no right to restrict free navigation in the contiguous zone in the Gulf of Finland, if a vessel does not violate the law on sovereign Estonian soil, Russian Ambassador to Tallinn Vladimir Lipayev said, speaking with the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

"The sea’s territorial limits are up to 12 miles, and the contiguous zone can adjoin them. Estonia has the right to establish the contiguous zone and to add it to the territorial waters. However, the fact is that the sovereignty of the state does not extend to the contiguous zone, and it is not possible to limit free navigation in the contiguous zone. The only thing that can be done is to exercise additional control in case a ship, which is sailing there, is suspected of violating the law of the state that this contiguous zone belongs to," the Russian diplomat specified.

Lipayev also noted that this situation is being blown out of proportion in the Estonian media.

"[They are doing it] probably in order to attach importance to themselves," the ambassador insisted.

Earlier, reports stated that Tallinn was working on plans to introduce a contiguous zone at a distance of more than 40 km from the baseline of Estonia’s territorial waters. This may cause difficulties for Russian ships in the Gulf of Finland.