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Estonia’s territorial claims hinder efforts to create positive agenda, says Moscow

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the Ministry has repeatedly stated that the issue "is closed once and forever" and Russia "has no intention to discuss it"

MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. The Estonian authorities’ rhetoric, including territorial claims against Russia, will not facilitate efforts to create a positive agenda in relations between the two countries, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Regrettably, the Estonian authorities continue making provocative and absurd statements instead of thinking about improving relations with Russia," she pointed out. "This kind of rhetoric in no way facilitates efforts to create a positive agenda in our relations and ratify bilateral agreements," Zakharova added.

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Kremlin dismisses Estonia’s territorial claims against Russia as unacceptable

According to her, the Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stated that the issue "is closed once and forever" and Russia "has no intention to discuss it." "The Treaty of Tartu now belongs to history," Zakharova emphasized.

Attitude to Treaty of Tartu

Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas told TASS in May that the country recognized the existing border with Russia. He added that the Treaty of Tartu "is very important for Estonia" but "we live in 2019 and we have to take today's reality and our priorities into account."

Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said on Tuesday that the treaty on the border between his country and Russia was unlikely to be ratified because of disagreements over the Tartu Peace Treaty (or the Treaty of Tartu). Estonia’s Interior Minister Mart Helme, in turn, claimed that Russia had not returned 5.2% of Estonia’s territory. He added that Estonia was ready to wait until the dispute was resolved in accordance with international law.

A Russian diplomatic source told TASS earlier that Helme was most probably referring to Ivangorod in the Leningrad region and part of the Pechora district in the Pskov region. Under the treaty concluded by Russia and Estonia on February 2, 1920, those territories belonged to Estonia. They were incorporated by Russia after Estonia had joined the Soviet Union.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has said more than once that the Treaty of Tartu lost force the moment Estonia became part of the Soviet Union.

There is still no legal border between the two countries. A border agreement, signed by the foreign ministers of Russia and Estonia in February 2014, has been submitted for ratification to the two countries’ parliaments.

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