August was a normal month in Estonia-related news coverage. No disasters, political upheavels, celebrity scandals etc. Andrei Kuzitškin, an immigrant from Russia and columnist for [i]Postimees studied Russian internet sites and newspapers for content on Estonia. Some samples:
While the Estonian presidential elections campaign reached full swing and only received factual news coverage and little commentary, the appointment of Anton Vaino to the chief administrator’s position on Vladimir Putin’s staff received wide attention and commentary. Anton Vaino is of Estonian heritage and the grandson of the former first secratary of the Estonian Communist Party, remembered in Estonia as an autocratic, old-style communist, who, in spite of his Estonian roots, spoke broken Estonian.
Of sustained and rapt attention by Russian media is the theme of “Estonian and NATO”. The Russian internet blog ‘Russki’ states: “Latvians, Estonians, Lithuanians, do you not understand that we don’t need you in the least? Or are you simply raising the political temperature in your common European Union home? What damn Russian aggression are you afraid of? The Latvian population is 1,959,900. Estonia’s is 1,315,944. Lithuanian’s is 2,866,935. Altogether you number just over 6 million. But the population of Moscow is 12,325,387. Do you understand who you are planning to go to war with? You’re raising the price. Do you want to compare yourself with Crimea? You lament that Russia is conquering you. Your task is to sell yourself to NATO at a very high price. You three should be joined with Ukraine as one prostitute-state bloc.” (Pikemalt Eesti Elu 16. sept. paberlehes)
