Aug 16, 2024 | The Baltic states regained independence more than 30 years ago. Now, Russia has them looking over their shoulder, again. Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has left many people wondering whether Russia will set its power-hungry sights on the Baltic states, once more.
"There’s only one enemy and that’s Russia," says Estonian national Ain Tähiste, summing up his views on the issue in a sentence: "Latvia, Finland, Sweden - and on the Baltic Sea Poland, Germany, Denmark," he continues, "they’re all friends, but not the Russian neighbor.” "It’s naïve to think Russia’s far away," he adds.
Ain Tähiste guides the reporter team through the military museum on Hiiumaa. The Estonian island in the west of the country was off-limits to tourists during Soviet rule, because its location on the Baltic Sea made it strategically important to Moscow. Since the start of the Russian war on Ukraine, Estonia has removed old Soviet monuments form public spaces and banished some of them to museums. "The Soviet Union occupied Estonia in 1940," Ain explains. "Are we still expected to pay our respects to the troops that occupied us? No, it was high time this happened!”
22-year-old Matthias Merelaine is from Tallinn and has no direct experience of the Soviet era. He’s nevertheless preoccupied by the question of whether Russia will try to return to the Baltics. "We’d be ready," he says, "to go to the front, weapon in hand, to fight the enemy and defend the homeland."
National guards are booming in Baltic nations - including Lithuania. Paulus Jurkus, son of a fisher from Kleipėda, says he wouldn’t run away, if attacked. The only port city in Lithuania, his home is not far from the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
This new aversion to Russians is also omnipresent in Latvia. Lauris Aleksevejs is a top chef in Latvia’s traditional seaside resort of Jurmala. The Russians used to be big spenders at Lauris’ restaurant. And since Latvia closed its borders to Russians, his income has nosedived. But he refuses to do business with the enemy.
Feb 13, 2024 | The Kremlin says it placed her on the wanted list for taking hostile actions against Russia – and what it calls "the desecration of historical memory". Moscow has long criticized Estonia for removing Soviet-era monuments. Estonia's state secretary and Lithuania's culture minister are also on the list. Kallas has been a vocal support of Ukraine since Russia's invasion. For more, we talk to our Russia analyst Konstantin Eggert, who joins us from Vilnius.
Aug 23, 2023 | In an interview with DW's chief political correspondent Nina Haase, Estonian Foreign Minister Tsahkna said he hoped that Ukrainians would be able to celebrate their Independence Day (August 24) in the streets "already next year". This year, because of martial law, there are no mass events in Ukraine. Tsakhna conceded that he didn't "believe in that really, I'm realistic", and added it was crucial to make the war come to an end in an "appropriate way", i.e. "Russia has pushed back to its territory, when the territorial integrity is re-established, when the international law has re-established in the meaning as well of all the crimes against humanity and war crimes, but also the crimes about leadership." Regarding Ukraine's methods of self-defense, Tsakhna reiterated that Ukraine had all rights to defend itself - "also by using attacks on Russian territory".
In an interview with DW, the Estonian Foreign Minister, Urmas Reinsalu, said the Western community has not done enough yet to help Ukraine, adding that "the price is paid by the blood of Ukrainians."
Reinsalu also said that President Putin operates project "fear", targeting not only Ukraine but the Western capitals, saying that "Europeans should be worried about the security, environment and unpredictability of Putin."
The migration crisis in Europe has reinvigorated the integration debate, especially in predominantly mono-ethnic Christian societies. And though most recognize the need to take in refugees, many fear that they will stress the fabric of their societies and stretch their country's resources to breaking point. Can European countries find a balance between humanitarian needs and social pressures, and how much should the EU's role in creating those migration flows factor into its decision-making? Oksana is joined by Kristiina Ojuland, the former Foreign Minister of Estonia, to examine these issues.
