Next provocation?

Russians remove Estonian buoys from border river

The Narva River (pictured) became the state border between Russia and Estonia in 1991.(Bild: Andrei Nekrassov)

Moscow is apparently preparing for another confrontation with the Baltic states and the West or the NATO defense alliance. The Russian border guards are said to have removed buoys in Estonian territorial waters of the Narva River, which are used to mark shipping routes.

The Narva forms part of the border between the two countries. According to the head of the Border Guard Bureau, Eerik Purgel, NATO member Estonia and Russia actually installed buoys every spring until the outbreak of the war.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the position of the metal buoys has been disputed between the two countries. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas accused the government in Moscow of provocation on Thursday. "We see a broad pattern of Russian actions trying to stir up fear," she explained.

Russians removed half of the buoys
Since last year, however, Moscow has no longer agreed with the Estonian position regarding their location, according to Purgel. Nevertheless, the Baltic state recently installed the first 50 buoys, only to discover shortly afterwards that the Russian border guards had removed 24 of them. Estonia now wants to get in touch with the Russian side to clear up the matter.

It was only in mid-February that the Estonian secret service announced that it believed Russia was preparing militarily for an ongoing confrontation with the West. This is indicated by the Russian military reform, according to an annual report presented in Tallinn by the foreign intelligence service of the Baltic EU country.

Troops increased on Estonia's border
According to the report, the military reform in question will mean a significant increase in the Russian armed forces near the Baltic state's border in the coming years. Russia is also planning to station more troops on the border with Finland and the other Baltic states.

Russia's aim is to achieve military dominance in the Baltic Sea region, it said. However, the probability of a direct attack on Estonia this year is low.