Latvia, Russia seal long-delayed border treaty

Latvia, Russia seal long-delayed border treaty

	Published : Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:18 By : Agencies Print this Story

RIGA, Latvia (Thomson Financial) - Latvia and Russia have sealed their long-delayed border treaty in a public ceremony, 16 years after the Baltic state regained its independence from the Soviet Union.

Latvian foreign minister Maris Riekstins exchanged ratification documents with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who is on an official visit to Riga.

The border accord had been approved earlier this year by lawmakers and the leaders of both countries after remaining on ice for more than a decade.

The formal exchange of documents was the final hurdle before it could come into force.

Latvia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991, after five decades of Kremlin control, and completed border talks with Russia in 1997.

But the draft treaty was only signed by both countries' prime ministers in Moscow in March, after being held up by differences over territory.

Latvia's 276 km border with Russia has since 2004 become one of the easternmost frontiers of the EU.

From Dec 21, it will also mark the outer rim of Europe's passport-free Schengen zone, which Latvia is poised to join.

Latvia's neighbour Estonia, also a Soviet republic until 1991, is now the only ex-communist EU member without a fixed border with Russia because of a deadlock in talks.

Estonia and Russia signed a treaty last year but Russia later pulled out after Estonia's parliament added what Moscow dubbed an 'untruthful' preamble to the law that ratified the accord.

The preamble included the terms 'aggression by the Soviet Union' and 'illegal incorporation by the Soviet Union' of Estonia.

The third ex-Soviet Baltic state, Lithuania, signed a border treaty in 1997.

Lithuania ratified it in 1999, followed by Russian lawmakers in 2003.

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