ATHENS

The EU on Friday slammed Russia's removal of buoys placed by Estonia on the Narva River to demarcate the border with Russia, demanding an explanation from Moscow.

In a statement, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the EU has been monitoring the situation closely in cooperation with Estonia and other member states

"This border incident is part of a broader pattern of provocative behaviour and hybrid actions by Russia, including on its maritime and land borders in the Baltic Sea region," Borrell said.

"Such actions are unacceptable. The European Union expects an explanation by Russia about the removal of the buoys, and their immediate return," said the statement.

On May 23, Estonia announced that 25 floating buoys demarcating shipping lanes from the Narva River were removed by the Russian border guards. The buoys have been placed on the river for decades to prevent navigation errors.

Estonia installed the markers in its waters based on the State Borders Act and the buoys' locations were agreed by the border agencies in 2022.

However, in 2023, Russia disagreed with the locations of approximately half of the 250 markers. Some of those removed on Thursday morning were at those locations disputed by Russia.

The first 50 were placed in the Narva River 10 days ago on May 13.