Estonia Closes Border Road After Unusual Appearance of Russian Soldiers

Estonian authorities shut down a stretch of road that passes through Russian territory after an unusually large group of Russian soldiers appeared on the road last week.

The incident was first reported by the Estonian border guard service in a section of the two countries’ shared border called the Saatse Boot. The guard service said on October 10 that a larger-than-normal group of masked, camouflaged soldiers had been sighted along the road, which passes through Russian territory.

The Russian soldiers had departed the area as of October 11, Interior Minister Igor Taro told the daily newspaper Postimees. But he said the section of road — about 1 kilometer in length — would remain closed for several days.

“There is no direct threat of war. This has been constantly confirmed by the Estonian Defense Forces. The Saatse Boot incident has not changed the situation,” he was quoted as saying.

In a post to X on October 12, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also downplayed concerns, saying the situation had been “exaggerated.”

The Saatse Boot is a quirk of the border shared by the two countries in Estonia’s southeast. Estonians are allowed to drive the section of road passing through Russia without need for customs or passport checks so long as they don’t stop.

Like other nations bordering Russia, Estonia has been alarmed by Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, and increasingly worried about the possibility of “hybrid warfare” tactics that Russia could use to test Estonian defenses.

In March 2014, Russia sent masked, camouflaged soldiers into Crimea to occupy and seize key facilities and buildings on the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula. The soldiers’ presence later evolved into an outright seizure of the territory, and later, annexation.

In 2024, Russia officials removed two dozen buoys that marked the countries’ border along the Narva River.

Last month, three Russian fighter jets spent 12 minutes flying in Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland, a move that prompted Estonia to call for so-called Article Four consultations with NATO members.

Estonia has the second-largest population of ethnic Russians among the three Baltic countries./