A senior Estonian border official has blamed Google Maps after a series of incidents involving locals traversing the country’s border with Russia.
Four accidental border crossings have been recorded in recent months, Regina Kukk, head of the Narva border station, told local media. Violations can lead to fines of up to €600 ($700) and detention lasting several days, she said
“If you do not want trouble, choose another body of water,” Kukk said. “Of course, we cannot ban people [from taking risks]. For our part, we are doing everything we can to reduce the number of violations.”
To avoid such problems, Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) recommends not suing Google Maps and other popular navigation services, but to rely on the official Nutimeri navigation app or a dedicated GPS device.
A Bolshevik territorial time bomb
Estonia and Russia have long-running disagreements over their border, rooted in the collapse of the Russian Empire and sharpened by the Ukraine conflict.
Estonia came under Russian rule in the early 18th century, after Sweden ceded large areas to members of the Russian-led coalition that defeated it in the 1700–1721 Northern War. When the Russian Empire collapsed amid World War I and the ensuing revolutionary upheaval, Estonia declared its independence. The Bolshevik government recognized the separation in the 1920 Treaty of Tartu.
Estonia joined the USSR in 1940; according to Moscow, the Soviets had deemed it necessary amid the threat posed by Nazi Germany. Russia maintains that the move invalidated the 1920 treaty, while some Estonian politicians continue to dispute that position.
Under the old treaty, parts of what is now Russian territory were assigned to Estonia. An effort to finalize the modern border in 2005 collapsed after Tallinn added a reference to the Treaty of Tartu to the agreement, which Moscow said could create grounds for future territorial claims.
A revised border agreement was signed in 2014, but it was never ratified. In 2022, the nationalist EKRE party proposed withdrawing Estonia’s signature from the document, but the move failed to win parliamentary backing.
Ukraine conflict fuels buoy dispute
Tensions along the roughly 300 km border, a significant part of which runs through the Narva River, intensified in May 2024. The PPA accused Russian border guards of unilaterally removing around half of the 50 buoy markers Estonia had unilaterally placed in the river.
The markers are normally adjusted jointly every spring because the riverbed shifts over time. However, the deterioration of bilateral relations following the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict has prevented the usual cooperation.
Then-Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, now the EU’s foreign policy chief, accused Russia of targeting the buoys in order “to create fear and anxiety” in Estonia.
Border tensions on the rise
Since 2022, Estonia, along with several other EU states bordering Russia, has imposed increasingly strict travel restrictions on Russian citizens, claiming it had to respond to the risk of infiltration by Moscow-linked agents. Cross-border traffic has fallen sharply. According to Estonian authorities, just over 1 million people crossed the country’s eastern border in 2025, down from the peak of 5.3 million in 2018.
Travel restrictions, combined with other policies targeting Russian-language and cross-border ties, have made life more difficult for many ethnic Russians living in Estonia. People with relatives, property, or business interests in Russia have been among those most affected.
Border tensions have escalated further this year after repeated incidents involving Ukrainian kamikaze drones crashing in countries bordering Russia. Just south of Estonia in Latvia, such incidents triggered a political crisis, culminating in the collapse of the ruling coalition in mid-May.
Western governments have placed ultimate responsibility for Ukrainian incursions on Moscow. Russia, in turn, has accused the affected states of giving Kiev tacit permission to use their airspace for strikes on its ports in the Baltic.