MOSCOW. Aug 8 (Interfax) - Russia continues to fine-tune its draft border treaty with Estonia and is yet unready to forecast when and where this document might be signed.
"The Russian side continues working on the draft treaties between the Russian Federation and the Estonian Republic regarding the Russian-Estonian state border and the delimitation of the Narva Bay and the Gulf of Finland," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Bikantov said in a commentary.
"Based on the results of this work, a decision will be made on the time and place for signing these documents," he said.
An Estonian media outlet earlier asked Bikantov whether or not Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had accepted his Estonian counterpart Urmas Paet's invitation to come to Tallinn in order to sign the two countries' border treaty.
In May 2005, Estonia and Russia signed land and sea border treaties. But the Estonian parliament added a preamble into the ratification bill, saying that the 1920 Tartu peace treaty that recognized Estonia's independence within its pre-war borders is still in force. Russia, which regards the 1920 as a historical document, revoked its signature under the above border treaties, fearing that Tallinn was thus attempting to set the stage for future territorial claims.
Estonia and Russia launched consultations on a new border treaty at the end of 2012. Three rounds of talks have been held since then. Following the third round on May 8, 2013, the Estonian parliament's foreign affairs commission concluded that the work on the new documents had been completed. On May 23, the Estonian government approved the draft treaties and instructed Foreign Minister Paet to sign them.