‘You can never expect them to tell the truth’ Estonian defense minister comments on recent appearance of armed Russian men near border
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur has commented publicly for the first time on the recent closure of an Estonian road that briefly passes through Russia after a group of armed Russian men was spotted there last week.
The Saatse Boot is a small piece of Russian territory that juts into Estonia along its eastern border. Passing through the sliver of land is an Estonian road, which locals are normally allowed to use if they do not stop. On October 10, the Estonian Border Guard reported that officers had “noticed a larger-than-usual unit” on Russian territory near the road. In response, the agency decided to close the road “to prevent possible provocations and incidents,” according to regional operational head Künter Pedosk.
On Saturday, the border service released a video that showed seven armed men in camouflage standing directly on the road. They were later reported to have left the area.
“It’s not news that Russia is using its own territory for different activities,” Pevkur told Meduza at the doorsteps of the NATO Defense Minister’s meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. “This time, they came very close to the Estonian border. They stepped out from the boot to the road.”
The minister added that Estonia is currently building a new road in the area that would not pass through Russian territory in order to prevent such incidents.
Asked who the uniformed Russians who appeared at the border were, Pevkur told journalists, “You’d have to ask the Russians. Will they ever answer that to you or someone else? No, they won’t.” He continued:
They say to us, “No, we didn’t have anything extraordinary [happening] there. We just did what we always do.” But we know that it was nothing like that. Communicating with Russia means that you can never expect them to tell the truth.
He compared Moscow’s denials to its comments on the September 19 incursion of three Russian fighter jets into Estonia’s airspace, which lasted about 12 minutes. After Estonia reported the incident, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed Tallinn was making false statements, calling the accusation “empty, unfounded and a continuation of a completely reckless pattern of escalating tensions.”
On Monday, Estonian Infrastructure Minister Kuldar Leis said the government would discuss bypassing a required environmental review in order to expedite the process of building the new road.
