TALLINN - Ingrid Ruutel, wife of President Arnold Ruutel, this week published a lengthy article in the Postimees daily revealing unflattering details about the parties held at the presidential palace last fall. She even suggested that some of the allegations about party hooliganism were deliberately spread to political opponents.
Ingrid Ruutel said that, during the get-togethers, which were organized by the Ruutels' granddaughters, youngsters did climb onto the roof of Kadriorg, the presidential residence, and that they entered the garden through a door with a combination lock on the inside. She and the president were on official visits abroad at the time.
The First Lady added that several teenagers approached the national flag on the rooftop after climbing through the attic, she said. Desecrating the flag had been in these individuals' plans, yet it turned out to be physically impossible.
"Some politicians have stressed on several occasions that the national flag was desecrated. Am I seeing ghosts or was this indeed a deliberate provocation that failed?" Ingrid Ruutel asked.
"It remains unclear to me if it was not also the Res Publica girl who spoke about climbing onto the roof," she said, referring to a member of the youth organization of Res Publica, a right-wing party that has emphasized it would not support Arnold Ruutel for a second presidential term.
The revelers also made it into the president's sauna and jacuzzi, Ingrid Ruutel said.
She explained that three or four young men of legal drinking age had used the sauna and jacuzzi. This group included a young man named Marek, who later gave an interview to the Pealtnagija (Eyewitness) program that broke the story. A group of party-goers also entered the presidential couple's bedroom, where they fumbled through the wardrobe and stole items.
"That was revealed both by Marek and the Res Publica girl who appeared in Ohtuleht, and it turned out to be true," the First Lady wrote.
Ingrid Ruutel said her granddaughters, Helena (15) and Maria (13), put an end to the parties after it surfaced that several old, valuable wines were missing.
Ingrid Ruutel said it was regrettable that the parties lead to scornful fingers to Maris Leif, the grandchildren's "problematic" mother and daughter of the presidential couple. She said Leif had informed them that, because of health problems, she could not maintain a permanent job, and that President Arnold Ruutel had acquired enough real estate for her to reside in and earn a livelihood.
"It was her who gave up the children, and it was their own choice to stay with us," the president's wife said. She added that, unfortunately, the inadequate statements her daughter gave only worsened her already fragile relationship with Helena and Maria.
The day after the story of the palace parties broke, Leif said that she had sent her daughters to live with her parents in Kadriorg since she was unable to provide for them.
Saying she had minimal contact with her daughters, Leif reasonsed that living with their grandparents would ensure the girls a better upbringing.
But despite the scandal, the president's rating has actually improved slightly, according to a recent poll.
Ruutel continued to be the most popular presidential candidate, with his number of supporters increasing, a recent BNS/Faktum survey revealed. From a rating of 24 percent in November, the president's approval has climbed to 30 percent in February.
He is supported by 34 percent of ethnic Estonians and 21 percent of Russian-speakers, and by 32 percent of women and 29 percent of men.
The incumbent president led the list in all income groups, but his rating grew the lower the income per family member.
At the same time, 47 percent of respondents in a poll commissioned by the daily Eesti Paevaleht said that the president's reputation had fallen in their eyes as a result of the recent parties.
