Russian Border Guards Breach Estonian Territory, Ambassador Summoned

Estonia’s foreign ministry said Thursday that it would summon Russia’s ambassador to “demand an explanation” after Russian border guards allegedly breached the sovereign territory of Estonia.

Government officials described that three Russian border guards briefly crossed into Estonian territory the previous day, with CCTV footage having captured the incursion along the Narva River, which forms part of the border between Estonia and Russia.

The crossing reportedly took place around 10am near the village of Vasknarva, after the guards disembarked from a  hovercraft and advance on foot.

Estonia’s Interior Minister Igor Taro noted the incident posed no immediate security risk, but described that police and border guard patrols had since been significantly reinforced and remain on high alert.

Following the border breach incident, which is said to have taken place for some twenty minutes on Wednesday, the Russian guards returned to their hovercraft and headed back toward the Russian side of the river.

It happened quickly enough for alerted Estonian guards to be unable to apprehend the three Russians.

An Estonian official subsequently said, “The incident has been recorded by surveillance equipment, and an initial inspection was also carried out on the breakwater. An official contact has been established with the border representative of the Russian Federation to obtain explanations.”

The motives for the Russian side remain unclear, and whether or not the incident was unintentional:

In recent years, Estonia has raised questions about the personnel employed by the Russian authorities.

“One concern we have with the Russian border guard is that the quality of their personnel has become extremely inconsistent in recent years – for understandable reasons – they no longer have regular staff. People are being brought in from other regions. This has been a recurring problem,” Taro said.

When asked why the border guards were not detained, Taro said they had already returned to Russian territory before that could happen. “We are not in a position to go into the depths of Russia to apprehend them,” he said.

This isn’t the first border incident which alarmed Estonia and NATO allies. Back in October, the Estonian government and media loudly complained about mysterious armed men which showed up on the Baltic country’s border on the Russian side.

BREAKING: Three Russian border guards crossed into Estonian territory for around 20 minutes on Wednesday, Estonia said. pic.twitter.com/mc0nGAqZra

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) December 18, 2025

Some Western observers have claimed this is all part of a series of intentional provocations and ‘distractions’ to keep European allies from focusing on arming and aiding Ukraine. There’s also been speculation these could have been troops from PMC Wagner or another mercenary outfit.