PART II. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MARITIME BOUNDARY
3. Pre-Existing Agreements on the Status of Ruhnu Island
Kolka Cape on the Latvian Courland Peninsula, 29 miles from the Estonian Kihnu Island (hist. Kynö) and 35 miles from the Estonian town Kuressaare on Saaremaa Island (hist. Ösel).186 The distance between Ruhnu and the Estonian city Pärnu as well as the Latvian capital of Riga is approximately 52 miles. The island is located on the same latitude as the Irbe Strait.
Geographically, Ruhnu Island is thus closest to the Latvian coast. The his-torical connections of Ruhnu Island with Latvia are illustrated by its inclusion into the Duchy of Courland from 1562 to 1621.187 Notably, maps which were
181 A Russian unit of length equal to 1,067 km. Verst was also used as a maritime unit of length in the Russian Empire. See Taska 1974, op. cit., p. 24.
182 Latvijas-Igaunijas robezas apraksto, Riga 1938, l 106 (referred in: Taska 1977, op. cit., p. 101).
183 Also, since the territorial sea of Estonia and Latvia was 3 miles at the time, the 4-versts-long boundary line did not cover the whole of their territorial sea, leaving approximately 0.75 miles of undelimited territorial sea west of the Ainaži port.
184 Taska 1974, op. cit., p. 129.
185 Ibid.
186 Eesti Entsüklopeedia, vol. 8. – Ruhnu. Tallinn: Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus 1995, p. 230.
187 Ibid, p. 231.
compiled relatively shortly after this period did not present Ruhnu Island as being part of western Estonia.188 Upon gaining independence in 1918, both Lat-via and Estonia claimed sovereignty over the island.
In the declaration of independence from February 24th, 1918, Estonia claimed that “the Estonian Republic includes within its borders /.../ Pärnu County along with the Baltic Sea islands – Saare-, Hiiu- and Muhumaa and others which are traditionally inhabited by the Estonian nation in the great majority.”189 According to the 1922 Estonian population census, the population of Ruhnu Island composed of 252 Swedes, 10 Estonians (3.7 %) and 2 Ger-mans.190 Thus, Ruhnu Island was not “traditionally inhabited by Estonians in the great majority” in terms of the 1918 Estonian declaration of independence.
In its meeting of January 17th, 1919, the Estonian Provisional Government adopted the decision, “To declare Ruhnu Island part of Estonia.”191 On June 4th, 1919, the Estonian Constituent Assembly adopted as the second pre-constitu-tional act192 the temporary Estonian constitution “The Provisional Order of Government for the Republic of Estonia,” which came into effect on July 9th, 1919.193 In its section 2, it provided the provisional boundaries of Estonia and listed land areas that fall within those boundaries, inter alia the Estonian islands
“Saaremaa, Hiiumaa, Muhumaa, Ruhnu, Kihnu, Vormsi, Osmussaar, Pakri Islands, Naissaar, Aegna, Prangli Islands, Suur [Tütarsaar] and Väike Tütar-saar.”194 However, section 2 of the Estonian Constitution that was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on June 15th, 1920 did not explicitly mention Ruhnu Island, whereas it referred to “Saaremaa, Muhumaa, Hiiumaa and other islands and reefs situated in the Estonian waters”.195 Distinctly, from the 1918 declara-tion of independence, secdeclara-tion 2 of the Constitudeclara-tion did not stipulate the criterion by which an Estonian island should be “traditionally inhabited by Estonians in the great majority”. Nor did it refer by name to any small islands of Estonia.
Presumably, it would have otherwise been also more difficult for Estonia to recognise Finnish sovereignty over Tytärsaari Islands as provided in Articles 3
188 See e.g. 1704 map (based on a 1650 map) of Saaremaa and western Estonia in EAA.308.2.28, p. 1.
189 See Manifest Eestimaa rahwastele (Estonian Declaration of Independence). Adopted 24.02.1918, e.i.f. 24.02.1918 (RT, 27.11.1918, 1).
190 In 1934, 277 Swedes and 5 Estonians (1.8 %) lived on the island. See H. Kään et al.
Saaremaa 1. Loodus, aeg, inimene. Tallinn: Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus 2002, p. 388.
191 K. Jaanson. Ruhnu ühendamine. Tänapäev No. 35, 1991. M. Burget. Eesti-Läti piiri loomine. Tartu: Master Thesis, University of Tartu 2010, p. 18.
192 The other two pre-constitutional acts are the 1918 declaration of independence and the decision on the supreme power in Estonia from July 9th, 1919.
193 R. Narits et al. Sissejuhatus. – Ü. Madise (toim). Eesti Vabariigi põhiseadus. Kom-menteeritud vlj. Tallinn: Juura 2012, p. 16.
194 Taska 1974, op. cit., pp. 44–45.
195 Eesti Vabariigi põhiseadus (Constitution of the Republic of Estonia). Adopted 15.06.1920, e.i.f. 21.12.1920, partially 09.08.1920 (RT 09.08.1920, 113/114, 243).
Accessible in Estonian at: https://www.riigiteataja.ee/failid/1920.html (14.09.2016).
and 13 of the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty between Finland and the Soviet Rus-sia.196
At the same time, Latvia also claimed sovereignty over Ruhnu Island. In spite of their aim and previous negotiations, Estonia and Latvia were not able to avoid controversies in their border descriptions as presented in their memoranda to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. The “Memorandum on Latvia” declared Ruhnu Island part of Latvia on the basis of the historical inclusion of Ruhnu into the Latvian territorial waters and into the Courland Duchy, as well as by the fact that the lighthouse and radio station located on the island are important for navigation to/from Riga.197
According to the letter sent by the Estonian Navy captain Rudolf Schiller to the Estonian Prime Minister on May 10th, 1919, the Latvian Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis had claimed sovereignty over Ruhnu Island and had also declared this in notices that were presented in Courland.198 On May 27th, 1919, the Estonian Ministry of the Interior sent a sea-expedition from Tallinn to Ruhnu that landed on the island on June 3rd, carrying cash and trade for bar-gaining with the islanders.199 On the next day, after hearing a speech given in Swedish by the Estonian secretary for the Swedish minority Nikolai Blees, the islanders’ general assembly decided to support unification with Estonia.200 At the presence of the local community, N. Blees then declared Ruhnu Island part of Estonia on behalf of the Estonian Government.201
Latvia raised the question about the status of Ruhnu Island in the joint Esto-nian-Latvian boundary commission headed by Colonel Tallents, but Colonel Tallents found that this question did not fall within the direct ambit of the com-mission and, after Estonia refused to address this matter, he decided not to dis-cuss it any further.202 Nevertheless, two out of the three alternative draft bound-ary lines (from May 31st and June 1st, 1920) concerning the Estonian-Latvian border town Valga, as prepared by the boundary sub-commission on Valga (headed by Colonel Robinson), proposed to cede Ruhnu Island to Latvia in exchange for a more favourable solution for Estonia in Valga.203 Estonia did not approve any of the three draft proposals.204
The Latvian delegation also raised questions about the status of Ruhnu on August 31st, 1920 during the Buldur (Riga) Conference between Estonia, Fin-land, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The Latvian delegation found that Latvia
196 Treaty of Peace between Finland and Soviet Government of Russia (together with declarations and protocols relative thereto). Tartu 14.10.1920, e.i.f. 31.12.1920.
Accessible: http://www.worldlii.org/int/other/LNTSer/1921/13.html (14.09.2016).
197 Burget, op. cit., pp. 19–20.
198 Ibid, pp. 67–68.
199 Jaanson, op. cit.
200 Ibid.
201 Ajalugu – Ruhnu Vald. Accessible in Estonian at: http://ruhnu.ee/ajalugu (14.09.2016).
202 Burget, op. cit., pp. 44, 67.
203 Ibid, pp. 51–52.
204 Ibid, p. 52.
has an economic, strategic and ethnic right over the island.205 The Latvian repre-sentative proposed to decide on the sovereignty over Ruhnu Island separately from the other sections of the Estonian-Latvian boundary, but Estonia again refused.206
On July 15th, 1921 the Latvian minister of foreign affairs sent a letter to his Estonian counterpart in which he enumerated geographic, navigational, security, historical and economic arguments in favour of Latvia’s title over Ruhnu Island.207 He concluded:
“Taking into consideration these geographical, economic and historical observa-tions, my Government cannot renounce Runo Island and in the final delimitation of the maritime boundary between our States, the island of Runo must be attributed to Latvia.”208
Pursuant to the Estonian Government’s decision of August 5th, 1921, the Esto-nian Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified Latvia that the territorial status of Ruhnu Island is not a subject matter of the joint boundary commission and that this question may only be discussed between the two States by diplomatic channels.209
At the same time, the Swedish local community on Ruhnu was discontent with the Estonian rule over the island and sent a letter to the Swedish Govern-ment in the beginning of 1921 asking Sweden to annex the island.210 In the sum-mer of 1921, the Estonian Prime Minister Konstantin Päts visited the island. He was assured by the head of the local community about the islanders’ desire to live either under the Swedish rule or independently.211
Estonia’s sovereignty over Ruhnu took root as a result of the Estonian Prime Minister’s negotiations with the local community during his visit to the island.
It is possible that due to the presence of a large ethnic Swedish minority in north-western Estonia, Sweden also favoured Estonia’s rule over Ruhnu Island – the representatives of Sweden had assured this to the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1922 as well as to the Estonian Ambassador in Latvia in
205 Ibid, p. 62.
206 Ibid.
207 ERA.957.11.440, pp. 12–14.
208 Ibid, p. 14. Originally, the letter is in French analogously to most of the rest of the correspondence between the Estonian and Latvian foreign ministers in the 1920s.
209 Ibid, pp. 7, 10.
210 Eesti Entsüklopeedia. – Ruhnu ühendamine Eestiga. Accessible in Estonian at: http://
entsyklopeedia.ee/artikkel/ruhnu_%C3%BChendamine_eestiga1 (01.09.2016). Notably, Swedish law had been applied on Ruhnu Island since the 14th century as confirmed in a letter of the Curonian Bishop Johannes from 1341. See Eesti Entsüklopeedia, op. cit. – Ruhnu, p. 231.
211 V. Neggo. Eesti esimese riigivanema visiit Ruhnu saarele. – Kaitse Kodu! No. 11, 12.06.1926 (referred: P. Kask (koost). Eesti Vabariigi riigivanema ja Ruhnu külavanema läbirääkimised 1921. aastal, ehk miks ja kuidas Ruhnu saare noormeestel võimaldati läbida sõjaväeteenistus kohapealses tuletornis. Kuressaare: Kodutrükk 2003, p. 18).
1923.212 Nevertheless, it was not possible to reach an agreement between Esto-nia and Latvia on the sovereignty over Ruhnu Island.213
On May 2nd, 1923, an Estonian Government commission – comprised of rep-resentatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, War and Interior as well as the Maritime Administration – upon the request of the Parliament established the coordinates of the boundary of the territorial waters and six base-points (out of 142 in total) of Ruhnu Island.214 In July 1923, the Latvian foreign minister expressed readiness to his Estonian colleague to solve the dispute over Ruhnu Island by referring the question to arbitral proceedings if an agreement between the two States should not be reached or, alternatively, sought Estonia’s acceptance for establishing a Latvian radio station on the island in case a defin-itive solution to the dispute over the island should not be reached.215
Notwithstanding the official position of the leading Estonian politicians, Estonia’s sovereignty over Ruhnu Island was not taken for granted in Estonia even by the end of 1923. At a meeting of the Estonian officials in the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in October 1923, Anton Jürgenstein (the Estonian member of the Parliament and the representative of the Coast Guard) proposed to consider the cession of Ruhnu Island in exchange for 30–40 farmsteads situ-ated in the frontier area of Võru County.216 The foreign minister Friedrich Akel rejected the idea and pointed out that the islanders rather preferred staying under the Estonian rule.217
By the time of a bilateral conference with Estonia which commenced in Tal-linn on October 25th, 1923, Latvia was willing to recognise Estonia’s sover-eignty over Ruhnu Island in exchange for a monetary compensation.218 Estonia declined. Thus, the supplementary Convention that was concluded between Estonia and Latvia in Tallinn on November 1st, 1923 does not pay any reference to the status of Ruhnu. Nevertheless, Latvia subsequently refrained from mak-ing any claims to its title over the island.219 Latvia recognised Ruhnu Island as part of Estonia under the 1996 Maritime Boundary Treaty.220
As noted by Erik Franckx, islands were the determining factor in the mari-time boundary delimitation between Estonia and Latvia.221 In particular, Ruhnu had a decisive role due to its location in the centre of the Gulf of Riga.222 This necessitates further scrutiny in view of Ruhnu’s status under Article 7(1) of the
212 Burget, op. cit., p. 69.
213 See also ERA.957.12.42, p. 311.
214 ERA.957.12.389, p. 18.
215 Burget, op. cit., p. 71.
216 ERA.957.12.42, p. 312.
217 Ibid.
218 Burget, op. cit., p. 72.
219 Eesti Entsüklopeedia, op. cit. – Ruhnu ühendamine Eestiga. Burget, op. cit., p. 67.
220 See also H. Lindpere. Kaasaegne rahvusvaheline mereõigus. Tallinn: Ilo 2003, p. 62.
221 E. Franckx. Region X: Baltic Sea Boundaries. – D. A. Colson, R. W. Smith (eds). Inter-national Maritime Boundaries, vol. 5. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff 2005, p. 3527.
222 See also Oude Elferink 1994. The Law of Maritime Boundary Delimitation, op. cit., p. 175.
LOSC in light of the legitimacy of the contemporary Estonian straight baselines that connect Ruhnu Island with Kihnu Island and Allirahu Islets (hist. Hullu-rahu), as well as their significance for the maritime boundary delimitation in the Gulf of Riga.
4. The Status of Ruhnu Island under Article 7(1) of the LOSC