This book is the result of my doctoral studies at the University of Tartu. The foundations for this research were laid in Utrecht University in 2011. Studying international law of the sea at the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea under the guidance of Alfred Soons, Alex Oude Elferink, Erik Molenaar, Barbara Kwiatkowska and Harm Dotinga was an illuminating academic experience and sparked my interest in this field.
Estonia and the Russian Federation reignited consultations on their maritime and land boundary treaties at the end of 2012 while I was working as a legal adviser at the Estonian Ministry of Justice. In the middle of 2013, I was assigned with the task of providing a legal analysis on the treaties. The legal aspects of the Estonian maritime boundaries and straits raised my curiosity, which is why I decided to examine them further in my doctoral studies.
I am grateful to my supervisors Lauri Mälksoo and Heiki Lindpere for welcoming this decision. Their consultations and encouragement have been of great support. I am indebted to my former supervisor Alex Oude Elferink for his willingness to join the project in the beginning of 2015. His assistance and external feedback have contributed to the manuscript profoundly. Writing the thesis under the co-supervision of three supervisors was a privilege. Any remaining errors and omissions remain my own responsibility.
In the course of the research I received critical assistance from the Finnish Ambassador to Estonia, Her Excellency Kirsti Narinen, on Finland’s withdrawal from the 1925 Helsinki Convention’s legal framework. Toomas Anepaio from the Estonian Supreme Court helped me better understand the state of affairs in the Estonian Supreme Court at the time when it made its judgment of 1932 on passage rights in the Viro Strait. I am also grateful to my cousin and close friend Pelle Tuulik for the language check. Marie Sheldon and Johanna Lee from Brill kindly took care of the publication of this book. Likewise, Philomène Verlaan from the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law provided her edits on the chapter regarding the maritime boundary delimitation between Estonia and the Russian Federation.
Alongside my daily work as an adviser at the Estonian Supreme Court I was responsible for drafting the project charter for the codification of the Estonian law on maritime zones in 2015. In the course of this, I was invited to meetings by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, the Estonian Maritime Administration and the Ministry of the Interior. I am thankful for these meetings and the written feedback from many other ministries, which enabled me to better grasp the Estonian legislative policy pertaining, in some aspects, to the legal regime of straits.
Tallinn,
17.11.2017