RSSIt’s not always black and white
Aug 16
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TALLINN – A majority of the people living in Estonia believe
improvement in the relationship between Russia and Estonia depends on both countries, a recent survey found.
The survey published in the Estonian media on Wednesday found that 58 per cent of ethnic Estonians and 64 per cent of ethnic Russians say improving the relationship between the two countries will take political will in both Moscow and Tallinn.
Ninety per cent of Estonians and 73 per cent of non-Estonians see the relationship between Russia and Estonia as bad.
However, those who blame only Tallinn or Moscow is marginal. Only 9 per cent of Estonians believe it is up to Russia alone to improve the relationship, while 19 per cent of non-Estonians believe it is up to Estonia.
“The political line in Moscow is aimed at aggravating relations,”
member of the Estonian parliament Sven Mikser told Estonian daily Postimees.
“There is no good will in Russia and the same applies for Russia‘s relations with other countries. It would be naive to think that Russia would be interested in improving relations right now.”
As ways to improve relations between the two countries,
respondents suggested seeking political compromise on both sides.
The relationship between Moscow and Tallinn hit a new low in April after the Estonian government decided to relocate a Soviet-era World War II monument from the centre of Tallinn to a military cemetery.
Ethnic Estonians see the monument as a reminder of their state‘s illegal occupation by the USSR, but most ethnic Russians see it as a tribute to Russian sacrifices in WWII.
The move sparked riots in Tallinn and a diplomatic row abroad.
Russia accused Estonia of “blasphemy” and supporting Nazism, while Estonia accused Russian state web servers of hosting a series of cyber-attacks on Estonian government servers.
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