Estonia's top foreign ministry official to resign and run in 2027 election
Jonatan Vseviov, secretary general of Estonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will step down on Thursday to run for the Social Democratic Party in next spring's national election. He is a former Estonian ambassador to the United States.
Jonatan Vseviov, the secretary general of Estonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the ministry's highest-ranking civil servant, has announced that he will leave his post on Thursday. He intends to join the Social Democratic Party (SDE) and stand in the national election next spring. The move takes one of the key figures behind Estonian foreign and defense policy out of the civil service and into party politics.
Vseviov is serving his second term as secretary general. He was previously Estonia's ambassador in Washington and, before that, secretary general of the Ministry of Defense.
His explanation
Vseviov said he has devoted his whole life so far to protecting and developing Estonia as a diplomat and civil servant. He led teams that shaped the country's foreign and defense policy and carried out many decisions. Today, he said, protecting Estonia and moving it forward requires more than he can achieve as a civil servant, which is why he decided to leave the civil service, join the Social Democrats and run in the elections.
SDE Chairman Lauri Läänemets said Estonia's security and its standing internationally call for strong leadership. He said Vseviov knows security and foreign policy thoroughly, has wide international experience, shaped defense policy, led the Ministry of Defense, served as ambassador in Washington and headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Career
Vseviov became secretary general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in February 2021. Before that, he had been Estonia's ambassador to the United States since August 2018. From 2008 to 2018 he worked at the Ministry of Defense, becoming its secretary general in January 2016. Earlier he served as deputy secretary general for defense planning, acting deputy secretary general for defense policy and director of the policy planning department.
Vseviov graduated from the University of Tartu with a degree in political science and earned a master's degree with honors in security studies from Georgetown University.
