Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has sharply warned the West against naivety towards Russia. “My people and I observe with a certain concern how little attention is paid to what is currently brewing in the vastness of Russia,” said Kallas on Tuesday evening in Hamburg as a guest speaker at the traditional Matthiae meal, which was also attended by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “From a subjective point of view, it is understandable that the collapse of the Soviet Union created a sense of triumph in the West,” she added. It is also understandable that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the initial focus was on reform forces in Russia. “However, this attitude has put the West in danger of wishful thinking,” warned Kallas.
She remembered the former Estonian President Lennart Meri, who was guest of honor at the Matthiae meal in 1994 and who had warned against Russian neo-imperialism. Vladimir Putin, who attended the meal in Hamburg as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg at the time, left the meal upset after the speech. One should not be distracted by this today if Russia wants to scare the West. Instead, everything should be done “to support Ukraine in pushing Russia back into its territory,” demanded the Prime Minister. “Our mantra should be that defense does not mean escalation.”
Kallas praised the fact that Germany has now drastically increased military aid to Ukraine and is becoming involved militarily in the Baltics. She also recalled the 60 professors at the University of Hamburg who successfully protested against the awarding of an honorary doctorate to Putin in 2004.
The Estonian head of government, a sharp critic of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, was wanted by Moscow a few days ago along with other people. The reason given was “a criminal case,” and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused those affected of “hostile actions toward historical memory and our country.”
