Russia and Estonia signed treaties here Wednesday after nearly a decade of delay that formally demarcate their border and define part of the easternmost frontier of both the European Union and NATO.

The agreements, fixing the land border and the maritime border, are a rare piece of positive news in the stormy relationship between Moscow and the three Baltic states that were occupied by the Soviet Union for 46 years after World War II.

Estonia and the other Baltic countries joined the European Union and NATO last year, bringing the borders of institutions set up during the Cold War to the very edge of their former ideological foe.

The pacts were signed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Foreign Minister Urmas Paet of Estonia.

Both ministers afterwards hailed the agreements as laying foundations for progress on other issues that have bedeviled Moscow's relations with all three Baltic states.

The signature "sets a premise for deepening our relations with Estonia," Lavrov told reporters after signing the treaties, adding that he and Paet discussed other issues including the rights of the ethnic Russian minority in Estonia.

The treaties had been ready for signing since 1996, and Lavrov admitted that Moscow's concern over the treatment of ethnic Russians who have lived in Estonia for generations had played a part in the long delay since then.

But he added: "I would prefer to concentrate on the future instead of speculating on the past."

Paet also said the agreement on the border could open the way to progress in other areas.

"We hope that the signing of the agreements will create good preconditions for the further development of relations and also open new opportunities for economic cooperation between our states," he said.

With Wednesday's treaty signature, Russia has signed border agreements with two of the three Baltic states. But even as the Russian-Estonian deals were being inked, the Russian foreign ministry said it was not ready to sign such a deal with the third Baltic state, Latvia.

"A Russian-Latvian border agreement can be signed only if Latvia disavows its unilateral declaration," Interfax news agency quoted ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko as saying.

He was referring to a declaration last month in which Latvia said that a 1920 border treaty was still in effect and that the border between the two countries should return to its pre-World War II state, when Latvia's extended into a sliver of modern Russia.

In Riga, a spokeswoman for the Latvian foreign ministry welcomed the Russian-Estonian border deal but said Latvia would not rescind its declaration, an affirmation that Moscow regards as a territorial claim.

"We can't disavow our interpretation of history," ministry spokeswoman Dagnija Stukena told AFP.

The signing of the treaties by Russia and Estonia, and their ratification by the parliaments of the two countries, is essential for Russia and the EU to break a deadlock on easing visa rules and stepping up the fight against illegal immigration.

Ahead of his visit to Moscow, Paet described the signing as "a milestone in the development of a strategic partnership between the EU and Russia."

Russia was widely seen as holding back on signing border treaties with Estonia and neighboring Latvia to frustrate their efforts to join the EU and NATO, and as leverage with Tallinn and Riga to improve conditions for the sizeable Russian-speaking communities in the two Baltic states.

But Moscow now finds that the lack of border treaties blocks progress on easing EU visa restrictions for Russians.