As hopes for a strengthening of ties between Europe and Russia lay in ruins last night following a disastrous summit between the two powers, Estonia’s prime minister stepped back into the fray with a sharp call for Moscow to repair the damage.
In an interview with Emerging Markets, Andrus Ansip said that despite Estonia’s desire for good relations with all its neighbours, a similar attitude remained absent in Russia. “Even though we have not recognized goodwill on Russia’s part, we hope Russia will find the political will to improve relations.”
The Baltic leader also thanked the EU for its “strong and timely support.” He said: “Estonia appreciates any cooperation between its neighbours and the EU member states in general.”
Yesterday’s EU-Russia summit near the Russia city of Samara was marred by Moscow’s rows with countries including Estonia and Poland. Speaking at the summit, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told Russia that any problems it has with an individual member state are problems for the whole bloc.
“We had an occasion to say to our Russian partners that a difficulty for a member state is a difficulty for the whole European community,” he said.
At the summit, Russian president Vladimir Putin accused Estonia – and also Latvia – of “unacceptable” violations against the rights of Russian speakers. Putin, who has accused Baltic states of discrimination against their ethnic Russian citizens, attacked Estonia over the recent removal of a World War II memorial and the remains of soldiers from the Estonian capital Tallinn, which sparked riots in the city.
In comments to Emerging Markets, Ansip shot back that the “Russian minority in Estonia has always been and will be well treated and respected in the future.”
Yesterday’s summit failed to unblock the launch of talks on an EU-Russia partnership agreement which are stalled because of a Polish veto, part of a trade row with Russia. Moscow had hoped the EU leadership would persuade Poland — as well as Estonia and Lithuania which are locked in their own rows with Russia — to moderate their stances.
Former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar, now head of the Institute of Economics in Transition, meanwhile warned in a phone interview that both Russia and Estonia should pull back from confrontation.
“With the collapse of a territorially-integrated empire, the easiest policy has always been to play on radical nationalism, both in the metropolis and in those states that were forcibly integrated into that empire,” Gaidar told Emerging Markets.
“Now Estonian political crooks are playing into the hands of Russian political crooks by playing on nationalist feelings. This could result in a deterioration of my country’s relations with the EU and there’s nothing favourable about that. I urge the EU to send a strong signal to Estonia not to play such games. And we Russians should not be provoked.”
In the run-up to the Samara summit, non-governmental organisations planning a protest were subject to a campaign of harassment and intimidation by security services. A ban on a Dissidents’ March organised by Russia’s liberal opposition bloc was lifted, but the police did their best to obstruct the organisers.
Garry Kasparov, the chess champion and leader of the Civil Russia protest movement, had his passport taken by police at Moscow Sheremyetevo airport and could not board his flight to Samara to lead the march. Eduard Limonov of the National Bolshevik Party and human rights campaigner Lev Ponomarev got the same treatment.
Local activists were hit harder. Valerii Pavliukevich of Samara’s Human Rights group said in a telephone interview that anti-global capitalism protest leader Aleksandr Lamashkin was beaten with baseball bats by unknown assailants, and other march organisers and opposition journalists taken from the street by unknown attackers, driven around the town and then released.