Overnight on Thursday, the 1st of February, Russia fulfilled its promise to close the border crossing at Ivangorod/Janilinn, which stretches across the Narva River into Estonian territory, therefore border crossing in both directions will be allowed only on foot in the near future, reports Estonian media ERR News.
Russia closed its border at midnight Moscow time (1:00 a.m. local time) and Estonia closed its side already at 11:00 p.m. local time by installing concrete posts and barbed wire on the Estonian side of the bridge.
ERR News reports that the official reason given by the Russian authorities for the closure is that repair work is underway on its side of the border in Ivangorod and is expected to last until the end of next year.
The closure of the Russia-Estonia border is to affect around 4 000 daily border crossings.
Approximately 80% of these border crossings are pedestrians therefore an increase in pedestrian flow is expected, but preparations are underway to accommodate this change.
Lux Express, the largest bus operator, will also adapt to the situation and passengers will now have to get off in the border area, pass through the border control with their luggage in hand and then get on a second bus to travel to their destination.
Hauliers taking goods to Russia will now have to use the border checkpoints in Luhamaa and Koidula, which makes the journey to St Petersburg area about 600 kilometres longer.
As a result, Narva-based haulier Transservis-N plans to fire four employees. The Narva-based company says it will look for new business areas to compensate for the loss of transit-related income.
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