MOSCOW, July 6 (RIA Novosti, Irina Chumakova) - New talks on border issues with Estonia do not mean that Russia is intending to agree to establish new borders, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Vladimir Chizhov said Wednesday.
"The need to hold [new] talks is obvious," he said, adding that Russia had given Estonia the relevant note setting forth Russia's position. "We are waiting for Estonia's response. We shall start the talks as soon as they [the Estonians] are ready," he added.
Russia proposed holding new talks when Estonia broke an agreement not to add any declarations to a border treaty signed in Moscow on May 18.
On June 20, the Estonian parliament passed a law on ratifying the treaty but with a reference to the 1920 Tartu Peace Agreement, which stipulated that Estonia included some territories belonging to modern Russia, but is no longer in force.
After this move, Russia revoked its signature on the border agreement.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: "Estonia did the very thing it asked us not to do - not to burden the border agreement with any political statements."
Estonian President Arnold Ruutel said that Estonia should not begin new border talks with Russia.
"The agreement signed after lasting talks should be ratified as it is," Ruutel told a newspaper Wednesday.
He said that the Estonian parliament had ratified the agreement as an internal document, without changing the text.
