The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that Ambassador Vladimir Lipayev of the Russian Federation echoed President Putin’s recent remarks, following a Friday briefing from information departments touching on the city of Narva. In a meeting with the ambassador, Deputy Foreign Minister Rein Tammsaar conveyed clear disappointment with Putin’s statements about Narva. He stressed that Russia maintains a posture that challenges the sovereignty and security of neighboring states. Given Russia’s actions in Ukraine, the discussion highlighted a parliamentary bill in the State Duma aimed at overturning resolutions recognizing Lithuanian independence and at pressuring further demilitarization and diminution of other states. The move is seen as dangerous and irresponsible. Rather than upholding international law and respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity, Moscow has leaned on propaganda and military pressure, including attempts to rewrite history to serve imperial aims.
Estonian diplomats remain convinced this approach will fail. Estonia has consistently asserted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine breaches international law and has urged Moscow to comply with the International Court of Justice’s ruling from March 16. Moscow is urged to withdraw its troops from Ukraine, end hostilities, and recognize Ukraine’s sovereignty and its borders within internationally recognized boundaries.
What Putin Said
Speaking the day before to a group of young entrepreneurs, President Putin claimed that during the Great Northern War Peter I did not take anything from Sweden, but returned it. He noted that no European power recognized Narva as part of Russia, and that the area had long been considered Swedish, with a mix of Slavic communities and Finno-Ugric peoples under varying Russian suzerainty. Putin tied Narva to his first western military campaign and suggested that Western developments still echo that historical arc.
History and Significance of Narva
Narva sits on the left bank of its river and, with a population around 54,000 as of early 2022, ranks as Estonia’s third-largest city. Its border location has long shaped its fate. In the early 13th century, Danish forces advanced into northern Estonia up to the Narova River, and Danish records from 1241 refer to the village of Narvia as part of today’s Narva territory.
In early Russian chronicles, the fortified settlement appears in the Novgorod I Chronicle of 1256 under the name Narova. By 1492, Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow built the Ivangorod fortress opposite Narva to counter Livonian power. The Livonian War intensified the clash, with Russian troops capturing Narva on May 11, 1558.
Tsar Ivan the Terrible envisioned Narva as a major Baltic port for Russia. Orthodox churches arose, and many Russian merchants and craftsmen settled there during the years of Russian administration. Narva’s trade connected northern German cities, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, and England, fueling economic growth. Yet such development unsettled Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, both vying for influence in the Baltic region and seeking Narva’s control.
During the siege of 1581, Swedish forces captured Narva, and in 1590 Russian troops surrounded the city again. The 1595 Tyavzinsky Peace settled disputes between Moscow and Stockholm, with Moscow renouncing claims to Narva and Revel but taking lands east of the Narova River. Peter the Great later launched the Northern War to reclaim Narva. Although the Russian army faced a setback in November 1700, it eventually captured Narva in August 1704, and the city was incorporated into the St. Petersburg province after the war’s outcomes redrew regional borders.
In the wake of the February 1917 revolutions, Narva’s governance sought separation from the Yamburg district and its inclusion in the Estonian province, a request granted on November 16, 1917. After World War I, German defeat allowed Red Army advances into Estonia in 1918. The 1920 treaty between Soviet Russia and Estonia confirmed Narva as part of Estonia. In 1940, Narva was annexed to the Soviet Union as part of the Estonian SSR, a phase that changed with Estonia regaining independence in 1991.