Estonian ruling coalition wants to add Tartu Peace Treaty succession clause to document on border with Russia
TALLINN. Oct 8 (Interfax) - Pro Patria and Res Publica Union, a member of the ruling coalition in Estonia, has demanded that a clause declaring the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty succession be added to the government resolution regarding border treaties with Russia.
"We will include a political declaration emphasizing the succession of Article 2 of the Tartu Peace Treaty and the Estonian Republic in the government resolution approving the border treaty between Estonia and Russia," party chairman, Social Protection Minister Margus Tsakhna said in a party press release published before the government's meeting on Thursday.
The Tartu Peace Treaty is "a proof of the establishment of the Estonian Republic and this essential action cannot be bargained for a political trifle," he said.
The Estonian government will discuss the submission of Estonian-Russian treaties on land and sea borders to the parliament on Thursday.
This will be a second attempt to ratify the law in the parliament.
The Estonian and Russian foreign ministers signed the first treaties regulating the two countries' land and sea borders in May 2005. However, at that time the Estonian Parliament supplemented the ratification instrument with a preamble regarding the validity of the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty. Under this treaty, Soviet Russia was first to recognize the independence of the Estonian state.
Russia, for its part, sees the Tartu Peace Treaty only as a historical document with no legal effect. It saw the decision of the Estonian parliament as an attempt to retain the possibility of making future territorial claims against Russia and recalled its signature.
On February 18, 2014, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov signed new border treaties in Moscow. Two clauses have been added: the parties have no mutual territorial claims and the agreements are aimed at resolving border issues only.
In April 2014, the Estonian Parliament adopted a bill ratifying these treaties in the first reading, but then suspended this process, expecting Russia to take similar steps.
