Russia signs border deals with former Soviet states

For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union almost 15 years ago, Russia has embarked on a concerted effort to demarcate its state border. The result will be that, for the first time in history, the country will have undisputed borders.

For the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union almost 15 years ago, Russia has embarked on a concerted effort to demarcate its state border. The result will be that, for the first time in history, the country will have undisputed borders.

In the past week alone, Russia has signed formal agreements with Estonia and China, started talks with Ukraine and responded positively to a Ukrainian proposal to settle the long-running dispute between Russia and Moldova over the enclave of Transdnestria. It is also moving towards a phased withdrawal of its troops from Georgia.

The agreement with Estonia recognises the frontier as running pretty much along the border that existed as an internal border between Soviet republics before 1991. An similar formalisation of the border is also under negotiation with Latvia, but has hit problems over the small region of Arbene, which was annexed by Russia in 1945. These borders, which are not only national borders, but borders between Russia and the EU, may give Latvia more negotiating clout.

The border with China was ratified by the Russian Duma on Friday by an unexpectedly large majority. A number of more nationalistically inclined MPs had lobbied against the agreement, saying that Russia had given more ground in settling disputed sections of the Amur river border than was appropriate for a great power. In several cases, these were the same disputed sections which saw armed clashes between the countries in 1969.

The historic significance of the Duma's ratification, however, can be gauged from the words of the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, who said: "For the first time in more than 300 years of Russian-Chinese demarcation, we are getting a fully legal, demarcated border."

Last year, President Putin insisted that Russia had no territorial claims on any of the former Soviet states.

A senior Russian government defence official also indicated Russia's concern to settle outstanding border issues once and for all, so that it could start improving security. Remarking on the irony of the situation, he noted that Russia's most effective defences were inherited from the Soviet Union and positioned on those borders where - since the disintegration of the USSR - they were least needed. The border with Finland, for instance, had been fortified to withstand a Nato assault, while the southern borders, with now-volatile former Soviet republics such as Georgia and the Central Asian states, as well as Iran, were the least secure.