Russia’s Shadow Looms Over Estonian Border Town

In heavy snowfall and high winds, around 200 people wearing rain ponchos and fur hoods queued in the Estonian border town of Narva to cross into neighbouring Russia.

Arriving at the crossing in taxis or buses, some dragged suitcases through thick snow, and others walked up and joined the line with just a single plastic shopping bag.

Checks have been stepped up at the Narva crossing ever since Estonia ordered a crackdown on attempts to circumvent sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Eerik Purgel, head of the Border Guard Bureau in Estonia’s East Prefecture, said the controls had already uncovered equipment worth “tens of thousands of euros”.

He spoke standing on the bridge linking two countries where pyramid-shaped concrete blocks commonly known as “dragon’s teeth” and serving as anti-tank obstacles were installed in 2023.

“You could see any kind of electronics, chips, Starlink systems, everything that’s used for war. We could see that actually trying to get through using people’s luggage,” Purgel said.

- Death threats -

Narva is nestled on the EU and NATO’s eastern border and Russia’s proximity is palpable in the town of 56,000 people, where 96 percent of the population are Russian speakers.

The Narva crossing, which is only open for pedestrians since Russia stopped road traffic, is now one of only three border checkpoints between the two countries.

Two fortresses face each other across the river dividing Narva and Ivangorod on the Russian side.

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In video footage that first emerged online on Sunday, the man is seen with his hands tied and being slapped across the face by a man speaking Russian.

At the foot of the castle on the Russian side, a concert has been held in the past years for the annual World War II Victory Day celebration.

The stage faces Narva and loudspeakers blast Russian music towards Estonian residents gathered on the riverbank.

The Narva Museum located in the castle on the Estonian bank countered in 2023 and 2024 by unfurling a large banner saying: “Putin: war criminal”, showing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s face covered in blood.

“Narva, unlike many other Estonian cities, is still under the strong influence of the Russian information space and Russian propaganda,” Maria Smorzevskihh-Smirnova, director of Narva Museum, explained to AFP.

She said she had received hateful messages and even death threats over the poster.

Smorzevskihh-Smirnova also faced backlash from local politicians who accused her of sowing divisions in the predominantly Russian-speaking community and called for removing her from the office.

There are not just wars of words across the border.

In May, Estonia said Russia removed border buoys from the Narva river, and a month earlier it blamed Russian hybrid activity for widespread GPS jamming that it said increased the threat of an aviation accident.

“It’s part of the electronic war that they are carrying out, and the impact is also to our territory,” Egert Belitsev, Director General of Estonian Police and Border Guard Board said.

- ‘A few madmen’ -

But even if tensions are simmering between the neighbours, life in the town of Narva is calm, mayor Jaan Toots told AFP in his office located right across the border crossing.

Toots added, however, that “a lot has changed” since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“We’re a border city and a border city always lives with the other side’s border,” Toots said, recalling how Narva residents used to go to Russia practically every day.

Even now, “petrol is 300 percent cheaper there,” Toots said, explaining why Estonians still lined up to travel to Russia despite Estonian authorities’ recommendation to avoid crossing the border.

The lack of traffic from Russia has also taken an economic toll.

“On Friday, Saturday, Sunday there used to be many tourists in Narva – I think 23-25 percent of the monthly trade turnover came from Russian tourists. This is gone,” Toots said.

Asked about the poster unfurled on the wall of Narva’s fortress, Toots said the banner showed “what our Estonian people really think. That a terrorist is there on the other side.”

But he said he still hoped for reconciliation between the two sides.

“The nation in general isn’t to blame for what a few madmen in the Kremlin are doing.”