Estonian PM: I will not stay silent about Russia
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal says he will not soften his rhetoric on Russia after reports that U.S. officials asked the Baltic states to do so. He says no such request has reached him directly.
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform Party) has said he will not tone down his statements about Russia and will keep speaking about the threat it poses. His remarks came after reports that U.S. officials had asked the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – to tone down their public rhetoric on Russia.
The Reuters news agency reported on Friday, citing several anonymous sources, that Washington wanted the Baltic countries to put less emphasis on the Russian threat. Michal told ERR, Estonia's public broadcaster, that no such complaints had come to him directly.
What the prime minister said
Michal said he last met U.S. President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in Ankara in the summer. In his account, the American message has rather been that European countries must take their own defense against the Russian threat seriously and spend more on it. Estonia is doing so, he said, and is a strong contributor to security and a security partner of the United States.
The prime minister stressed that Estonia will continue to draw attention to Russian aggression and its crimes in Ukraine. He recalled that Estonia warned about the plans of Russian President Vladimir Putin even before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. In his view, appeasing dictators or staying silent is not a solution; pressure and support for Ukraine must continue, as that is the only way to make Putin change his objectives.
Attacks on infrastructure
Michal said that ahead of winter, on Putin's orders, electricity and heating infrastructure is being destroyed and bombed, and that water supply and sewage systems have now also been targeted. He said women and children are being killed. He argued that Putin is portrayed as cornered because there is no real progress on the battlefield, which is why Russia is carrying out hybrid attacks.
The prime minister also cited the late U.S. presidential candidate John McCain, who said Russia is a gas station pretending to be a country. Michal believes Estonia's leaders and security officials should describe directly what Russia is doing.
