Following Helsinki’s decision last year to close all border crossings on the Finnish-Russian border under the far-fetched pretext of a “migration crisis”, an influx of people wishing to cross the border between the Russian Federation and the EU He rushed to the border. crossings on the border between Russia and Estonia. The Friendship Bridge between Russia’s Ivangorod and Estonia’s Narva took on a greater load. Those for whom Estonia is not the final destination, but a transit point on their route, came here. These are mainly Russians living in other EU countries with a residence permit or a second citizenship, citizens of Finland and other EU countries who have family and business ties with Russia. An additional flow of people was added to those who traditionally move from Estonia to Russia and back via Narva-Ivangorod. These include residents of the border areas of Estonia and Russia with dual citizenship or residence permits, including those who earn money from cross-border trade.
As you know, as of February 1, 2024, it is impossible not to pass through this border crossing closest to Saint Petersburg (150 km by road). The Ivangorod cargo and passenger checkpoint was closed for reconstruction by decision of the Russian government. The work will last approximately two to three years. Therefore, citizens cross the border at this point only on foot, including those who are transported to the checkpoint from both sides by passenger buses. The performance of the pedestrian part of the point has also decreased due to the closure of car traffic.
The beginning of the summer season also contributed to the appearance of long queues at the border. Despite the great difficulties for Russians who want to spend their holidays abroad, they still find the opportunity to obtain visas and make trips, including through Estonia. The flow of guests to Russia from Europe, for whom electronic visas are now available, has also decreased, but the flow of guests to Russia from Europe has not completely dried up either. Then artificial difficulties begin.
The first of these, which entailed a chain of negativity, was the daily evening closure of the checkpoint on the Estonian side of the border, which began on May 1, 2024. This immediately increased the number of people waiting to crossing the border during the day, the workload of Russian border crossing personnel and the speed of entry to the border began to decrease due to the increased volume of work.
The quantity of problems gradually turned into quality, and on June 20, with the increase in the number of people wishing to cross the border, at the Narva-Ivangorod checkpoint, people were forced to wait several hours, without water and no possibility to sit on the bridge to cross to the Russian side. At the same time, dozens of passengers from bus companies on the Russian side did not have time to cross the border because the working hours of Estonian border guards were reduced before the weekend, and they were forced to return to the Russian side and wait for the morning
Finding nothing better, the Estonian Police and Border Guard Department stated that the crowds of people on the border bridge supposedly pose a security threat and simply closed the Narva-1 checkpoint for travel to the Russian Federation for the weekend of June 22 and 23 (the crossing from the Russian Federation to Estonia was still open). Those who could not get from Narva to Ivangorod had to go through the long-distance checkpoints Luhamaa and Koidula, which run from southern Estonia to the Pskov region, or postpone the trip to a later date. On the Estonian side, there were reproaches against Russia: they say that its border guards work slowly, which contributes to the formation of crowds.
However, it is worth considering that the algorithms of action of Russian officers differ from the rules of their Estonian colleagues, and no one has the right to violate official instructions due to the fact that there are more people. The head of the Ivangorod urban settlement Viktor Karpenko noted that Russian border guards process documents “a little longer than in Estonia”, because this is necessary in the interests of the security of our country. But the root cause of the queues was precisely the refusal of the Estonian side to let people through at night.
“This checkpoint is international and must operate 24 hours a day, because a large number of people pass through it: with a residence permit, with dual citizenship, many tourist buses come, not only during the day, but also during the day. in the afternoon and at night,” Karpenko told the “78” television channel.
On the morning of June 24, the Estonian side again allowed citizens to cross the border, but even this artificial pause of several days was enough for large crowds to form on the Narva side. As a result, after the opening of the checkpoint, people who had been queuing in Narva since the evening spent seven hours crossing the border into Ivangorod. It took one more day to improve the situation a little and on June 25 it was possible to get from Narva to Ivangorod in two to four hours.
In the days that followed, tension at the border continued to ease, and by the weekend of June 29-30, the border crossing was operating normally in both directions. In a Telegram chat, people who had braced themselves for hours of waiting shared their surprise that the border was suddenly clear.
“At 10:10 I was in Narva Square. At 11:30 I went to Ivangorod. It took 1 hour and 20 minutes,” wrote a user under the nickname “Ivan Kamnev.” “From Narva to Ivangorod it took an hour and a half. “It’s simply a miracle!” confirmed user “Anna”. Some managed to cross the border between Estonia and Russia in just 1 hour and 15 minutes. The trip in the opposite direction did not pose any great difficulties either. “I am reporting on the road from Ivangorod to Narva. At 6:20 we arrived and got in line in front of me, about 30 people. At 7:40 I was already at the Narva train station,” said the traveler. “Katja” he reported on June 30
But already on Monday, July 1, queues began to grow again in the areas adjacent to the checkpoint. Judging by the images from CCTV cameras broadcast on the Internet, by 17:00 the line of people on the Russian side was about twice as long as it had been on Sunday. The queue is also visible in the images from Narva, although the day before it was not even visible in the frame because it was so small.
The “picture” is also confirmed by the users of the “Narva-Ivangorod Border” chat. According to his observations, today people have to languish in queues on both sides. “The most difficult thing from the Russian side is 6-7 hours, from Estonia, as I understand it, about 4-5 hours, I count the time from “joined the queue” to “completely left the border in another state,” he writes. one of the participants.” Today, 01.07, I queued in Narva at 12:00, left in Ivangorod at 16:35,” reports Maria Ilina. If people were under the scorching sun last weekend, they did the same today. The rain.
However, large queues on weekdays could have been avoided if the Estonian side had not created artificial difficulties with temporary closures and nightly waiting times. Furthermore, let us not forget that Estonia’s “window to Europe” can be closed at any time, following the example of the Finnish one, under the pretext of protecting against illegal migration or “Russian threats”.
