Estonia quits legal assistance treaty with Russia

TALLINN. April 1 (Interfax) - Estonian President Alar Karis endorsed legislation on Monday terminating the country's legal assistance treaty with Russia, the president's chancellery said.

An explanatory note to the law says that bilateral relations between Estonia and Russia should be maintained only at a level at which these relations are necessary. The possibility of cooperation with Russia in civil, family and criminal matters remains, but decisions on them will be governed from now on by private international law and international conventions.

The government-proposed bill terminating the legal assistance treaty with Russia was approved by Estonia's parliament on March 20.

The treaty was signed in Moscow in 1993 and entered into force on March 19, 1995, envisaging its automatic extension every five years. The party terminating the treaty has to notify the other party of this at least six months before the end of the treaty's five-year extension period.

The current period expires on March 18, 2025. A note notifying Russia of the treaty's termination should therefore be forwarded to Moscow before September 18, 2024.