THE ESTONIA-RUSSIA BORDER: MANY ROADS TO GRIDLOCK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TALLINN 000520 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL RU ECON EN SUBJECT: THE ESTONIA-RUSSIA BORDER: MANY ROADS TO GRIDLOCK REF: (A) TALLINN 347 (B) August 2006 Lee-Lane e-mails ¶1. (U) Summary: Extended delays in recent months for truckers waiting to transport goods from northeastern Estonia into Russia have raised many questions about possible causes, especially in the wake of Bronze Soldier- related transit disruptions since April. It is unclear whether politics or simple inefficiency on the Russian side has caused the delays. While Estonian officials cite a combination of political motives, anti-smuggling efforts, inadequate Russian infrastructure, and bureaucracy, they stress that working-level relations with their Russian colleagues are still good. The present situation is largely a repeat of last summer, which officials expect to abate by September, but return on a seasonal basis for the foreseeable future. End summary. ¶2. (U) Estonia's border with Russia is not only a key transit point for goods traveling between the two countries, but also the easternmost EU border with Russia. The recent increase in delays at the principal crossing point in Narva has therefore been of interest beyond these two economies. [Note: The Estonian Tax and Customs Authority estimates that 85-90 percent of outbound cargo transit is of non-Estonian origin transiting from elsewhere in the EU. End Note] The recent spike in wait times for trucks crossing into Russia has grown from an average of one day to as long as four or five days, raising many questions about the cause of the delays, especially coming as they do in the wake of politically-motivated trade disruption measures of recent months. (Reftel A) ¶3. (U) It has not been uncommon for commercial trucks crossing into Russia from neighboring Latvia to experience similar lines 800-1200 vehicles long during recent months. Extended delays were also a problem in the summer of 2006, when explanations ranged from the diversion of trucks through Estonia to avoid new Belarus road taxes, to political motivations in Moscow related to the Estonian- Russian border treaty. [Note. Russian President Vladimir Putin had also announced a new crackdown on cross-border corruption in the summer of 2006. End Note] Waits in border queues spiked in late June of 2007, going from an average line of 149 trucks on the Estonian side waiting 1.1 days to cross, rising to an average of 329 trucks in line waiting up to 5 days to cross since late June. While Estonian officials we met with said they expect the long waits to diminish by the end of August and increase again around year-end, they offered several observations about causes of this summer's delays. Power Politics, or Old-Fashioned Russian Inefficiency? ¶4. (SBU) We met with Margus Noorma and Dmitri Jegorov of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA) in Tallinn, as well as with a border inspector and the Deputy Head of Customs at the Narva checkpoint. The EMTA officials at the border in Narva acknowledged that some of the recent slowdown may be politically directed since the Bronze Soldier controversy in late April and early May, but they also said working-level contact with their Russian counterparts across the river remained cordial and cooperative. They noted that since the 30 percent slowdown in crossing volume beginning June 27, they had received four different stories from the Russian side explaining the delays: road repairs, staffing shortages during summer vacation, slow compliance with mandated computer upgrades, and greater pressure at other Russian border crossings for resources. They did say, however, that their Russian contacts seemed uncomfortable talking about the reasons for the delays. Vitali Sergeyev, Director of the Narva Business Advisory Service, added that "For every 1 Russian working at the customs office, 3 are drinking coffee." ¶5. (U) Our contacts at the border said that out of Russia's 120 border crossings, only three of them are with Estonia. Meetings with their Russian counterparts in Moscow made it clear that problems on Russia's southern and Asian borders are relatively of much greater concern, making the Estonian border a lower priority. Furthermore, in spite of a tripling of gross cargo crossing the border since Estonian accession to the EU, the Russian customs service has made no significant upgrades to its infrastructure since 1995, and is not properly equipped to address increases in traffic. [Note. Russia's Finnish border checkpoints enjoy higher capacities since Finland itself funded infrastructure expansion on both sides of the border there. End Note.] Looking on the Bright Side... TALLINN 00000520 002 OF 002 ¶6. (SBU) Back in Tallinn, Deputy Directors-General Jegorov and Noorma stressed that cooperation with their Russian counterparts remains good on areas such as anti-smuggling, fraud prevention, information transfer, and implementation of laws, all of which they engage Russia on within the framework of an EU Working Group that convenes every three months. Data they provided on truck crossings for January- July 2007 showed that while the number of trucks queuing on the Estonian side varied anywhere from 50-400 trucks (a wait of about 3 to 111 hours),the number actually crossing into Russia every 24 hours stayed roughly constant within a band of 100-150 per day. They attributed the June 27 drop to 70-100 crossings per day to the many reasons cited above. In recent days, the Narva mayor has criticized the GOE in the press for not coordinating more closely with the city and doing more to resolve the long delays. However, when we met with Georgi Ignatov, Director of the Narva Economic Development Department, he admitted that the problem is essentially one between the Estonian and Russian governments and respective ministries, in which the city can have little influence. There is an agreement between the two countries stating that not fewer than 150 trucks per day will cross at Narva, but there is no mechanism to enforce this, and the Estonians see no great urgency to do anything to increase the flow of goods. The vast majority of them are of non-Estonian origin, and the GOE receives no transit fees as it does for rail cargo, but rather, as one said: "The trucks just ruin our roads." ¶7. (SBU) Comment. As we saw with extensive crossing delays in the summer of 2006, explanations this summer range from pragmatic to political in nature. While post- Bronze Soldier rhetoric from the Kremlin clearly played a role in the slowdown of rail transit through Estonia and the temporary closure of the Narva bridge, it is unclear whether this is the case with the recent slowdown of truck transit. Our contacts in Estonian Customs had nothing bad to say about the working-level cooperation with their counterparts on the Russian side, but worried that if hostile talk from Moscow continues, that could worsen things at the border. So far, the GOE seems fairly confident that wait times at the border will return to normal soon. End Comment. PHILLIPS