Estonia: Russia ties recovering
Ties between Estonia and Russia have recovered from lows of a few years ago, but are still a long way off
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Estonia has been independent since it broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991. Relations with Russia, already strained by Estonia’s 2004 accession to the Western military alliance NATO, hit a low after officials moved a Red Army monument from the center of capital Tallinn in 2007.
An electronic attack then paralyzed the nation’s Internet network. Estonia blamed the Russian government, though Moscow denied involvement.
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said the country of 1.3 million was trying to maintain good ties with all of its neighbors, including Russia.
“So if you look at the atmosphere of our relations today then I think that they are pretty normal,” he told Reuters in an interview during an official visit to Canada.
That said, talks on a formal border agreement, almost 20 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, remain stalled.
Paet noted that Russia was Estonia’s second-largest trading partner and said tourist traffic from Russia was increasing steadily each year.
“Step by step I guess we’re moving in the right direction but (ultimately) it takes two to tango,” he said.
Referring to an absence of top-level visits between the two countries, he said, “I … think it is not too normal but if it’s OK for the Russians then of course it’s OK also for us.”
Paet said tensions over Estonia’s large ethnic Russian minority were easing. Moscow has in the past accused Tallinn of discrimination against the Russian-speaking population.
“Domestically, in Estonia, I don’t see any serious problems with misunderstandings. Sometimes simply our eastern partners, because of political reasons, try to use this card somewhere,” he said.
The foreign minister also played down Russia’s intention to shift oil products shipments from Estonia to Russian ports by the end of 2010.
“It’s understandable when Russians also want to move as much of their goods through Russian ports, if it is possible. I guess it’s quite natural,” he said.
