A politician (Center Party MP Aleksei Jevgrafov — ed.) wrote on social media about Narva that the "entire madness happening at the state border" was initiated by the previous interior minister. Officials usually do not argue with politicians and I won't either. But as the secretary general of the Ministry of the Interior, I feel I can — to quote President Alar Karis — politely disagree and explain what has happened with the Narva border queue and why.

I understand everyone who is concerned about the long lines at the Narva border crossing, where people stand or sit for five to ten hours waiting to cross, some even spending the night in Peetri Square. There is trash in the area around the border point and both travelers and Narva residents are dissatisfied.

For me, the reason is clear. The "entire madness happening at the state border" was not started by the government of the Republic of Estonia, the previous interior minister or Narva city government, as the media often suggests. The border queue in Narva was brought here by Vladimir Putin and his full-scale war against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022. That Russian aggression destroyed Europe's previous security architecture and shattered many ties between states.

One significant consequence is that in November 2023, Finland closed all its border points with Russia. The reason was migration pressure supported and fueled by the Russian authorities. On the Russian side, asylum seekers were even given or sold bicycles so they could reach the Finnish border crossing faster. Does anyone believe this could have happened without the knowledge of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB)? This was done with the FSB's knowledge and involvement — it was Russia's deliberate response to Finland's then-intention to join NATO.

Currently, 8 percent of Narva border crossers are Finnish citizens. That's nearly 30,000 people, knowing that in the first seven months of this year, 370,558 people passed through that crossing point. In addition, price-sensitive Russian citizens also use Estonia's border points, as all European Union countries have ended air connections with Russia. Instead of flying at high cost through Turkey or Arab countries, it is cheaper for many to return home via Estonia.

Second, after Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine began, Estonia gradually made checks at the eastern border more thorough. In addition to checking documents and travelers' backgrounds, customs now also thoroughly inspects their baggage to prevent the transport of goods on the European Union sanctions list.

This is a self-evident response at the border with an aggressor state, where Estonia is protecting its own security and safety. Naturally, such an in-depth inspection takes more time than before and all border crossers must account for that.

We have said many times, and I will repeat again, that we currently do not recommend anyone travel to Russia, as the country that started the war. It carries various risks and providing consular assistance to Estonian citizens and residents in trouble there may be hindered.

The Ministry of the Interior monitors the situation at the Narva, Koidula and Luhamaa border points daily and closely. If Russia were to use migration pressure here as a hybrid warfare weapon — as we have seen or are seeing at the Russian-Finnish border and at the Belarusian-Latvian and Belarusian-Lithuanian borders — we are ready to close our border points. So far, there has been no reason to do so.

Estonia does not plan to create any concessions for crossing the border with an aggressor state. We could discuss, for example, whether it might be possible to allow border crossing in Narva only for Estonian citizens and residents, but that would likely run into European Union rules.

I do not see any possibility that border checks on Estonia's eastern border will be eased while Russia's war of aggression against its neighboring state Ukraine continues. So, once again: the border queue in Narva was brought here by Putin and his war.

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