Estonia may tighten baggage control at Narva border checkpoint with Russia due to sanctions violators

Estonia may tighten customs controls for travellers crossing the border with Russia due to increasingly frequent attempts to smuggle sanctioned goods.

As reported by ERR, Estonian customs officers may soon begin thorough luggage checks for everyone travelling from Estonia to Russia and vice versa, as they have been recording too many attempts to smuggle prohibited items.

Ants Kutti, head of the Narva customs border post, notes that most travellers carry ordinary foodstuffs, sweets, tea, books, magazines, board games, and medicines from Estonia to Russia, none of which are prohibited. However, there are frequent attempts to smuggle luxury goods under sanctions, dual-use goods, and items prohibited for import from Russia.

"We have missed some dual-use and strategic goods such as weapons parts, ammunition, sights, night vision equipment and drones. We've also missed all kinds of microchips, microelectronics and luxury goods," says Kutti.

About 3,300 to 4,000 travellers pass through the Narva checkpoint daily. Of these, approximately 30% travel for work, another 30% for various family reasons, and the remaining 40% use the Estonian-Russian border to transit further into Europe. A lot of travellers are those coming from Scandinavian countries, as Finland's border with Russia is closed.

Earlier, Estonian customs officials reported that the most common items smuggled from the EU to Russia are euros in cash, expensive branded goods and luxury wines, and car parts.

At the end of June, there were massive queues at the Narva checkpoint for several days as people waited to leave for Russia. Estonia closed the checkpoint for two days due to the slow operations on the Russian side, Estonian border guards noted.

After that, there were queues for some time at the other two road border crossing points. The waiting times ranged from several days to as long as five days.