Christian F.* has an unusual hobby. He collects photos of borders. “I prefer to stand on the line so that one foot is in one country and the other in the other country,” he says to Blick. He has pictures like this from all over the world, from Europe, North America, even North Korea.
On Monday, June 6th, his collection should be growing. He said goodbye to his friends. He had been with them the days before in Finland and Estonia. Now he wanted to go to the Russian border to add to his collection. The problem: It is forbidden to walk to the border line. And the Ukraine conflict didn’t make things any easier either.
A Russian street in Estonia – or vice versa?
But there is one exception: When Estonia and Russia became independent when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1990, the borders that had applied up to that point – which are officially called “Lines of Control” to this day – remained in place. And with it the so-called Saatse boot, a 115-hectare piece of land that stands between the two Estonian villages of Lutepää and Sesniki. This is a kind of Russian bay looking into Estonia. Why this is not known, local people say this land belonged to a farmer who lived in Russia and the land was never ceded to Estonia.
However, Lutepää to Sesniki are only connected via this property. Estonia and Russia have therefore agreed that the road they are driving on is Russian, but that there are no border controls. So it’s pretty much the only place where you can be visa-free in Russia. There are tons of other laws for that. For example, you are not allowed to stop or get off on a part of the road. This has already been fatal to many tourists, who were then taken away by Russian border guards.
“Suddenly a border guard jumped out of the bushes”
Of course, borders fan Christian F. knew the rules, left this forbidden zone behind with his rental car and got out at a point where he was on Estonian soil. The border with Russia was still next door. He took his cell phone with him and took a few steps until he came to a sign forbidding him to continue walking.
He photographed himself in front of it and thought he had achieved his goal: he had immortalized himself on another boundary marker.
“But at that moment, an Estonian border guard suddenly jumped out of the bushes and made me understand that I had to come with you,” says F. The man didn’t speak English and was friendly, but forced him to get into the police car.
80 euros for 50 centimeters
Together they drove to the police station, where Christian F. found out what he had done wrong: “The police officers told me that you shouldn’t come closer than ten meters to Russia. The sign I was standing in front of was 9.5 meters from the border.” The officials said that wasn’t ideal, but it couldn’t be changed and ultimately it wasn’t their problem.
Christian F. got a fine. 80 euro. He was flabbergasted. And powerless. When the German-Swiss dual citizen living in Uster ZH wanted to take out his wallet, the police officers said they were not allowed to accept any money. Instead, they took his personal details and gave him the ticket.
Fine is not paid
F. was no longer flabbergasted, but angry. This Thursday he flies back to Switzerland. With him the decision that it had become too stupid for him: “I don’t feel like paying for it anymore. The incident is just too ridiculous.”
Now he is checking whether the Estonians can harm him if he simply throws the buses in the wastebasket. At the latest when he takes his next photo, he will remember this episode again. To the limit that he didn’t even cross – and for which he should still pay.
*Name known