Former Foreign Minister of Estonia, Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa) has forcefully responded to criticisms from Estonian daily Päevaleht and from the member of Riigikogu and Keskerakond (Center Party) Oudekki Loone.


"Yapping dog", "racist" and "foolish" are epithets for the fact that I am convinced that Estonia must be strongly at the forefront of those Western countries that demand respect for human rights from Russia, including the imposition of additional sanctions for the arrest of Alexei Navalny.

The representative of the Center Party points out that Estonia did not react in the same way to the protests of the French Yellow Jackets. I was attacked similarly by the Russian ambassador to the UN Security Council when I raised the issue of violence in Belarus at the UN.

Oudekki Loone also questions the EU sanctions imposed last year on the poisoning of Navalny against Russian security officials, which Estonia, along with like-minded countries, requested.

Maintaining the unity and consistency of the West is an existential security issue in our foreign policy alongside value policy principles.

I demanded a meeting with Navalny
At last week's meeting of EU foreign ministers, I called for sanctions and made it a condition for Borrell that if he really goes to Moscow (which I did not consider reasonable, along with other Baltic foreign ministers), he should demand a meeting with Navalny as a precondition for the visit. He also referred to this in a vague wording at a press conference after his meeting.

Päevaleht calls my policy in Belarus dysfunctional. I just received Svjatlana Tsihhanovskaja's personal statement of gratitude for Estonia's support for the Belarusian people's struggle for freedom. Using the rhetoric of the dPäevaleht, it was the Baltic states that were the "barking dogs" that, by imposing national sanctions, pressured the EU to finally adopt three sanctions packages and include Lukashenko on the list.

And Tchikhanovskaya asked me personally to raise the issue of the fourth package of sanctions in the EU, which I did.

Unhelpful meekness
The idea of ​​some kind of meekness that turns into virtue is burying your head in the sand in foreign policy terms. If they finally come for us, there is no one to support us, to paraphrase a well-known poem.

Estonia, as a member of the Security Council elected from Eastern Europe, has a special responsibility to be active in the processes threatening international peace, human rights and security in our region.

Let's learn from our own history and the history of our neighbours, let's not close our eyes to the world!

The most worrying thing about this rant by a representative of the Center Partyis is the regret of imposing US and EU sanctions over the last decade. Let me remind you that these sanctions have been our vital security deterrent.

I would not have expected this rather brutal change of political attitude as fast as it came.

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