Declaration of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia, 1 May 2007
The European Union is under attack, as Russia is attacking Estonia. The issue of the Bronze Soldier and vandalism in Tallinn are Estonia’s internal matters but the coordinated activities undertaken against Estonia by Russia are a matter of the entire European Union. Therefore, the relations between the European Union and Russia are currently extremely complicated.
The attack is virtual, psychological and real – all at the same time.
In Tallinn and in other Estonian towns the representatives of the Russian Embassy have met the main organisers of the disturbances in very peculiar places, in Tallinn Botanic Garden, for example.
IP addresses have helped to identify that the cyber terrorists’ attacks against the Internet pages of Estonian government agencies and the Office of the President have originated from specific computers and persons in Russian government agencies, including the administration of the President of the Russian Federation.
The delegation of Russia’s State Duma, whose visit to Estonia was mediated by the Presidency of the European Union, demands the resignation of Estonian government and refuses from cooperation and dialogue. Instead, the members of the delegation make demands and issue false statements. This means interfering with the internal matters of Estonia.
Russian youth organisation “Nashi” has laid a siege to the Estonian embassy in Moscow, which is also the building where embassy’s staff lives. This means that the employees of the embassy are practically held hostage. Today, the members of the Russian parliament indicated that the militia could clean the area around the embassy in three minutes – just if someone wanted it. The militia has also said that they have been given the task to ensure just the minimum level of protection. Today, the national flag of Estonia was torn from the embassy building. All that is violating the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The direct links between Russian youth organisations inciting hostility like “Nashi”, “Molodaya Gvardia” and Kremlin are known to all. It is also a common knowledge that the persons keeping Estonian embassy in Moscow under siege are paid by Kremlin – 550 to 1000 roubles at a time.
The Russian TV channels, the “liberty” of which is know to the entire world, do not show the marauders vandalising the streets but “innocent” citizens of Russian nationality suffering from the terror of the police. They also broadcast news saying that the Estonian police are killing the persons held in custody and that the Estonian defence forces have been given the order to shoot at Russians. All of that is a blatant lie.
Let me assure you – we have plenty of evidence to support all of these statements.
Everything said above indicates clearly that the future of people of Russian nationality in the Republic of Estonia is just a rhetorical pretext for implementing “active measures”, and those fellow countrymen of ours are used in a much bigger political game.
On Thursday I will take to the Government of the Republic my proposal on the measures, which, as Estonia sees it, the European Union should apply towards Russia. These measures must have such an effect on Russia that it would stop its attacks and interfering with our internal matters, and start following the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The measures should be related to the entire scope of relations between the European Union and Russia.
We find it necessary that the reaction on behalf of the European Union to the behaviour of Russia should be as vigorous as possible. This could mean suspending different talks between the European Union and Russia or not commencing them at all. The postponement of the European Union – Russia summit should be also given full consideration.
If the situation around Estonian embassy in Moscow will not normalise by 9 a.m. tomorrow, Estonia will stop the provision of all consular services, except consular assistance provided to the citizens of the Republic of Estonia, in its Moscow embassy until the situation is back to normal. We also follow extremely carefully the security situation around our other representations in Russia.