MOSCOW — Russia will verify reports that Estonia plans to close its border crossings with Russia, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday, as Tallinn announced plans to shut its remaining road crossings from December 1.
Zakharova said Moscow would establish whether the reports accurately reflected Estonia’s intentions. She warned that, if confirmed, the plans would represent another manifestation of what Russia describes as hostility toward the country.
The proposal would affect the three remaining road crossings between the neighbors, including the pedestrian route linking Narva and Ivangorod. Estonia’s Foreign Ministry has publicly identified December 1 as the intended start date, although the government still faces decisions over the measure’s implementation and duration.
In remarks carried by TASS on November 15, Zakharova said, “We will verify all this to see if it’s true.” She added that, if these were Estonia’s actual plans, the move would be seen as “yet another bout of aggressive and unbridled Russophobia.”
Tallinn has presented the proposed closure as a security measure following an attempted attack on Estonian defense manufacturer Threod Systems. In a statement on Sunday, Estonia’s Foreign Ministry alleged that Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, had commissioned the sabotage attempt. That attribution is an allegation by Estonian authorities, rather than an independently established finding in the material reviewed for this report.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said closing the crossings would reduce Russia’s ability to conduct hostile activities against Estonia and help prevent sanctions circumvention. He said he had informed his counterparts in Finland, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as European Union colleagues, about the planned closure.
The announcement would extend restrictions on routes that already operate under different conditions. According to TASS, Narva-Ivangorod has been open only to pedestrians since vehicle traffic stopped in 2024. The Koidula-Kunichina Gora and Luhamaa-Shumilkino crossings continue to accommodate pedestrians and motor vehicles.
Zakharova’s reported remarks did not announce a Russian countermeasure or specify how Moscow would verify Estonia’s plans. Estonia’s Foreign Ministry statement, meanwhile, gave no reopening date.
