Estonia might indefinitely close the Narva border with Russia during the night, from 11 pm to 7 am starting in May.
Putting forward a proposal on the matter, the Estonian Police and Border Guard (PPA) and the Ministry of Interior said that the closure of the Narva border crossing point at night is the right measure.
The reasons cited by the two authorities for their proposal were the reduced number of people crossing the border as well as the ongoing war in Ukraine, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
According to the Estonia Public Broadcasting, official data show that traffic between Estonia and Russia has dropped drastically since the beginning of this year, especially after the country decided to close the Ivangord border crossing to vehicle traffic at the start of February.
As revealed, in January, there were around 170,000 border crossings. However, this number dropped to 108,000 in February, with the latter seeing only around 13,000 border crossings at night.
Taking into account such figures, Estonia is now considering closing the Narva border between 11 pm and 7 am from May.
Deputy Director General of PPA Says This Is a Reasonable Measure
Commenting on the proposal, the Deputy Director General of PPA, Veiko Kommusaar said that Estonia does not recommend travel to Russia for its citizens, thus stressing that the closure of the border during the night is a “reasonable measure”.
Kommusaar further listed some factors behind the proposal. According to him, the first factor that supports the closure of the border during the night is the low number of crossings, whereas the second factor is the ongoing war and the Estonian taxpayers’ money that the country is using to keep the border open at all times.
In our view, it is not right that, at a time when Russia is waging a full-scale war against its neighbor and Estonia does not recommend visiting Russia, the PPA is spending Estonian taxpayers’ money to keep the Narva border crossing open around the clock.
However, despite plans to close the border at night, Kommusaar stressed that the Narva border crossing point will have staff 24 hours a day.
In addition to the above-mentioned, the official said that in the future they want to concentrate daytime controls on travellers’ baggage and cargo at customs at the Narva border crossing point.
A draft of the proposal is now expected to be sent to the government and in the meantime the two parties that made the proposal will wait for an official decision on the matter.
