Building Bridges in Europe | European Journal

Episode 2: Estonia/Russia: The Narva Bridge - The bridge over the marshy Narva River connects Estonia and Russia. Until Estonia’s independence,following the breakup of the Soviet Union,the cities of Narva on the Estonian side and Ivangorod on the Russian side were effectively one.Now the bridge marks the boundary of the European Union and a visa is needed to cross it. And so traffic and trade across the border have dwindled to a trickle. Ivangorod is only 100 kilometers from Saint Petersburg,considered one of Russia’s most dangerous cities,and many Estonians fear that crime could spill across the border. In response to the EU border controls,the Russians have retaliated with a 50-kilometer cordon sanitaire.