The Parliament of Estonia has decided to terminate the Estonian-Russian agreement on legal assistance and legal relations in civil, family, and criminal matters due to a lack of trust in the Russian judicial system.
This was reported by the Estonian media ERR.
The agreement, signed over 30 years ago and regularly renewed, is now deemed necessary to be terminated by the Estonian government and parliament.
The agreement, which will remain in effect until the spring of next year, provides for mutual recognition of judicial decisions and cooperation in criminal cases. However, according to the Estonian Ministry of Justice, the termination of the agreement may create some additional difficulties for citizens, such as in contracting and dissolving marriages with Russians or in inheriting property. Documents obtained from the neighboring country will need to be translated and apostilled. Two months ago, Latvia also terminated a similar agreement with Russia.
"This decision is primarily a symbolic act, indicating that as long as Russia is at war in Ukraine, the Republic of Estonia cannot have any trust relations with the aggressor state," said Janus Karilaid, a non-faction member of the parliamentary legal committee.
"All the same affairs with the Russian Federation can still be conducted, but not on the basis of a bilateral agreement, but on the basis of all other international agreements. In other words, Russia will now be for Estonia like any other African or Asian country, and conducting affairs will be much more expensive and complicated," said Eduard Odinets, Chairman of the Legal Committee of the Riigikogu (Social Democratic Party).
