| | | It's a rather unique situation as this Estonian road goes through Russian territory. A little more info in this article.
Russian soldiers at the border – Estonia closes road
From t-online, sic
Updated on 12.10.2025 - 13:25 o'clock
Reading time: 3 min
 
Still from a video of the Estonian border guards: Uniformed and armed persons stand on the Russian side of the border. (Source: Screenshot PPA)
On Friday, Russian soldiers are apparently approaching the Estonian border. The authorities there react quickly and close an important road. In the meantime, the situation is calm again.
Due to suspected Russian military activities, Estonian authorities closed an important connecting road in the southeast of the country last Friday. The reason for this was the appearance of several armed Russian soldiers in the so-called Saatse boot, a section of Russian territory about one kilometer long that protrudes into Estonian territory. According to the Police and Border Protection Agency (PPA), "more movement than usual" was observed there.
The closure affects road 178 between the villages of Värska and Ulitina, which runs through the 115-hectare Russian territory. A diversion via Värska, Treski, Matsuri and Sesniki has been set up and will remain in place at least until Tuesday. The aim of the measure is to "prevent possible provocations and incidents," the PPA said in a statement.
Apparently no border officials
A video published by the authority on Saturday shows seven uniformed people with weapons and covered faces on the street in Saatse boots. According to Meelis Saarepuu, the head of the Border Guard Office of the Southern Prefecture, these were not Russian border guards "based on their uniforms". The group had been on the road from Friday afternoon "first along the road and later in a line across the road". On the shared video, no badges can be seen on the uniforms.
This movement posed a clear threat to the Estonian authorities. Vehicles were stopped, drivers warned and a temporary ban on passing was imposed. According to Saarepuu, Moscow responded to a request to the Russian authorities by saying that it was "a routine operation".
"This has never happened before"
Estonia's Interior Minister Igor Taro also commented on the incident. The presence of armed Russian forces in the Saatse boot is not fundamentally unusual, he told the newspaper "Postimees". But "what is new is that they were standing in the middle of the street - that has never happened before". Taro stressed that the situation is now "calm" and that there is no immediate danger of war. This has also been confirmed by the Estonian Defense Forces.
At the same time, he pointed to long-term plans to take the road completely out of Russian territory in the future. "I don't want someone who drives through the Saatse boot to end up in a prison in Pskov, for example," Taro said.
Saarepuu stressed that Estonian border guards are regularly confronted with Russian provocations – such as the theft of border markers or the interference with GPS signals. Even though the incident did not affect the general threat level, the situation at the border remains tense. The PPA confirmed on Saturday that the armed Russian unit had since withdrawn from the area.
Foreign Minister expects further provocations
On Saturday, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told the dpa news agency that he expected further Russian provocations. However, he was referring to the intrusion of drones and fighter jets into NATO airspace. "I am sure that Russia will continue these provocations. It's not about Estonia, it's about NATO's unity and testing our capabilities and also transatlantic unity," Tsahkna said.
In Estonia, three Russian fighter jets entered the airspace of the EU and NATO country for about twelve minutes in September. The government in Tallinn had therefore requested both an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council and consultations under Article 4 of the NATO treaty with the allies. In the subsequent statement, the military alliance warned Russia against further border violations under threat of violence.
The latest developments on the Estonian border are probably part of Russia's hybrid warfare against the West. These include disinformation campaigns, the deployment of soldiers without insignia or attacks on critical infrastructure. The annexation of Crimea by Putin's "little green man" in 2014, in violation of international law, is a prime example of how Russia uses hybrid warfare. The case in Estonia evokes memories of this procedure because of the lack of insignia. |
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