Estonia Tightens Customs Control on Russian Border

On 8 August, Estonia introduced enhanced customs control on the border with Russia.

This is reported by ERR.

The innovations apply to all border crossing points on the Russian-Estonian border - in Narva, Luhamaa and Koidula.

As the Estonian government emphasises, this is done in order to prevent the entry of sanctioned goods into Russia.

"Most often, third countries are indicated as the destination in the declaration, but we don't believe it. And practice shows that on the way to the destination - which is mostly located in Asia - these goods stop halfway, somewhere in the Russian territory. There are many suspicious items among these goods, such as military or mixed-use items and cash," said Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi.

According to him, the enhanced control means that everyone travelling to Russia will have to deal with representatives of the Estonian state in one way or another.

"If we talk about passengers, this will primarily be expressed in visual control and questioning. In case of suspicion or selectively, an additional inspection of personal belongings will be carried out, up to and including an X-ray examination," said Ligi.

"Vehicles will be inspected in the same way. If necessary, the inspection may be more thorough, up to and including an X-ray. As for the goods, the first thing that will be checked are the documents. If necessary, additional inspection and X-rays will also be carried out. In particular, in some cases, it may be necessary to unload the goods, open them and count them," the minister concluded.

Earlier, there were reports that Estonia may tighten customs control at the border with Russia due to increasingly frequent attempts to smuggle sanctioned goods, including dual-use goods.

Estonian customs officials said that the most commonly smuggled goods from the EU to Russia are euros in cash, expensive branded goods and luxury wines, and car parts.