WHO BENEFITS FROM DEADLOCK IN RUSSIAN-ESTONIAN BORDER TALKS?

Yet another round of Russian-Estonian border delimitation talks ended without results in Tallinn yesterday. The Russian side sought to reopen portions of the agreement that had already been finalized, and also raised minute technical details — involving border demarcation on the ground and at sea — that belong, by definition, to the next stage of negotiations. Russian chief negotiator Vasily Svirin went out of his way to stress that the talks "achieved nothing, got nowhere… we did not narrow the differences on even a single issue." He warned that the Russian side may decline to schedule a follow-up round of negotiations unless Estonia changes its attitude. (BNS, Russian agencies, November 20)

The border agreement was, in fact, finalized and initialed in November 1996, after Estonia had made the political and legal concessions sought by Moscow. Russia, however, has since openly stated that absence of a signed border treaty with Moscow is one of the factors that jeopardizes Estonia’s bid for NATO membership.

Ukrainian Astronaut in Orbit Aboard U.S. Spacecraft.