Estonia’s border guard: Armed Russian groups seen in Saatse Boot

A group of armed Russian personnel was seen standing on the road in Saatse Boot, a stretch of Russian territory that Estonians can drive through, which the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) temporarily closed access to on Friday. The interior minister said the latest information suggests they have now left the area.

The Saatse Boot in south-eastern Estonia is a boot-shaped area of Russian territory spanning 115 hectares (280 acres) and extending into Estonia (see map below). Estonians and citizens from elsewhere can drive through the area without a permit, but must not stop.

The PPA said on Friday (October 10) evening that the closure came after border guards observed more activity than usual on the Russian side. The road closure aims to prevent possible provocations and incidents and to ensure the safety of Estonian citizens, the PPA said yesterday evening.

On Saturday, the agency released video footage showing a group of seven people in military uniforms standing on the road, holding weapons, and mostly hiding their faces.

“On Friday, our patrols observed throughout the day that activity on the Russian side in the Saatse area was significantly more intense than usual. We saw various armed groups moving along the border and in its immediate vicinity. Based on their uniforms, they were definitely not border guards,” Meelis Saarepuu, head of the border guard bureau at the PPA’s South Prefecture, told Saturday’s evening news show “Aktuaalne kaamara.”
He said patrols identified that groups were moving on the road running through Saatse Boot from 3 p.m. on Friday.

“At first, they were moving along the roadside, but at one point they formed a line across the road. For us, this clearly constituted a threat situation. We began stopping vehicles on both sides of the Saatse Boot and informed drivers of the situation, warning them about patrols in the area. Most drivers continued on, though some turned back. The border guard requested information from the Russian side about what was happening in the area. Their response was that nothing was going on, that these were entirely routine operations. For us, this was a threat situation in which we had to make the decision to temporarily close the road passing through Saatse Boot,” Saarepuu told the show.

The official said a unit of more than 10 personnel was moving around the Russian side of the border.

A detour is currently in place via Värska, Treski, Matsuri, and Sesniki, and police are asking people to follow temporary traffic signs. It will remain in place until at least Tuesday (October 14).

Saarepuu told Lõuna Postimees newspaper that the threat level has not increased in connection with this incident, but the situation at the border remains tense.

“We are seeing constant testing and provocations from the Russian Federation — stealing border markers, creating border queues, or jamming GPS signals,” he stressed on Saturday.

Minister: The Russian armed unit has left Saatse Boot

Minister of Interior Igor Taro (Eesti 200) told newspaper Postimees on Saturday evening that, according to the latest information, the armed group had left Saatse Boot.

He said that there is nothing unusual about the presence of armed Russian border guards in the Saatse Boot: “There is border control there, and of course they are armed.”

But what is new is that the armed Russian unit stood in the middle of the road that passes through the Saatse Boot, Taro said, the Russian border guards have not done anything like this before.

He said the priority must now be on completing a bypass of the area so that worst-case scenarios cannot occur in the future: “I don’t want a person driving through the Saatse Boot to end up, for example, in a Pskov prison because of such a situation.”

He described the current situation at Saatse Boot as “calm,” the same as the rest of the border: “There is no direct threat of war. This has been constantly confirmed by the Estonian Defence Forces. The Saatse Boot incident has not changed the situation.”

Minister: Reports about ‘tense’ situation on Estonian-Russian border are exaggerated

Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) said on Sunday afternoon that reports about the situation have been exaggerated.

“To be clear: nothing acute is happening on the border. The Russians are acting somewhat more assertively and visibly than before, but the situation remains under control,” he said, while outlining the situation.

In a similar comment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “The situation remains calm and fully under control.”

What is Saatse Boot?

Estonia’s route 178 (the Värska–Ultina road) between the villages of Lutepää and Sesniki, passes through Russian territory for approximately one kilometer. The area is known as Saatse Boot.

Vehicles are allowed to cross the territory without a permit as long as they do not stop within one kilometer.

A second small area known as the Lutepää Triangle also passes through Russian territory for around 30 meters.

The Russian Border Guard has the right to carry out enforcement activities in these zones. Estonia’s PPA has no authority in these areas.

You can watch the video from the PPA below in the “Aktuaalne kaamera” broadcast./Err/