Baltic States – CIS, Estonia, Legislation, Russia, Transport

Public Broadcasting's correspondent asked at a press conference from Pushkov, since ratification of the Estonia-Russian border agreement directly depends on the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, in what state the process is at the moment and whether a firmly determined border would have prevented the abduction of Estonian Security Police official Eston Kohver.

Pushkov said that before the crisis in Ukraine took its current form, there were no obstacles to ratification of the treaty in either Estonia or Russia. "We talked even about the possibility of parallel, simultaneous ratification. As far as I know, the Russian Foreign Ministry's position was very positive. And the fact that the agreement has not yet been ratified, does not mean that someone would want to revise it. But the political situation is such that the agreement is awaiting its hour, so to speak. Speaking about the intelligence scandal you mentioned, it is in my opinion a very specific case, which is very difficult for me to comment on – where exactly was the Estonian officer, on whose territory," said Pushkov.

With regard specifically to the border treaty, Pushkov said that Estonia has made it tougher to ratify it, with several of its own steps.

"As Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman I do not see any obstacles to ratification of the treaty – besides the current political situation, and as you know, a whole series of harsh statements made by Estonia about Russia and by supporting the sanctions against Russia. All of this, of course, does not help create a political climate that would encourage ratification at the moment," said the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Estonian-Russian border treaty has not been included in the work program of the State Duma yet.