TALLINN. April 17 (Interfax) - The Estonian Parliament on Wednesday finished the first reading of a bill ratifying the Estonian-Russian agreements on the national border and the maritime delimitation in the Narva Bay and the Gulf of Finland.
All four factions in the Estonian parliament backed the bill on its first reading.
The second, and final, reading will depend on how quick the ratification process is in Russia, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and Chairman of the parliamentary foreign affairs commission Marko Mihkelson told the parliament.
"The final vote on the border agreements will be held only when Russia is about to make the same step," Mihkelson said.
It was repeatedly stressed during the debate that in the light of the events in Ukraine passing the bill will ensure better national security for Estonia.
Once passed, the bill will have to be approved by the head of state.
This is already a second attempt to conclude border agreements.
The first time the agreements were signed by Paet and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in May 2005. At the time, the Estonian parliament added to the ratification bill a preamble regarding the validity of the 1920 Tartu peace treaty. Under this treaty, the Soviet Russia was first to recognize the independence of the Estonian state. The treaty also drew the pre-war border. Currently Russia sees the Tartu peace only as a historical document with no legal effect.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.
The Estonian-Russian consultations over the signing of new border agreements began in late 2012, with three rounds held over the next seven months. In 2013 both sides announced that they had approved the agreements.
On February 18, 2014, the agreements were signed by Paet and Lavrov in Moscow. Two clauses have been added: the parties have no mutual territorial claims and the agreements are aimed at resolving border issues only.