The Estonian Police and Border Guard Department and the Ministry of the Interior want to close the Narva border crossing point at night from May, because compared to January, the flow of people crossing the border between Estonia and Russia has halved.
The plan of the Estonian authorities provides that the Narva border crossing point will be open every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. There is no set deadline for the new arrangement.
At the beginning of February, Russia closed the border crossing point in Ivangorod to road traffic, citing reconstruction as the reason, which is expected to continue until the end of 2025. In connection with this, the number of people at the Ivangorod-Narva border crossing point has decreased from more than 170,000 in January to about 108,000 in February. The number of border crossers at night decreased by half during the month to 13,000.
The plan envisages that employees would also be present at the border control point at night, however, the number of border guards could be reduced. This would allow the Department of Police and Border Protection to allocate additional resources to in-depth inspections during the day and control of the green border.
The Estonian Ministry of the Interior plans to send the proposal to the government soon.
