Estonian defmin: There's wish in West to mend ties with Russia

  • 2019-08-30
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN - A wish can be felt in Europe and America to start improving relations with Russia again, Estonian Defense Minister Juri Luik said after attending a meeting of European Union defense ministers in Helsinki.

The main topics of the meeting held at Finlandia Hall in Helsinki's city center were artificial intelligence and global warming, which are somewhat unusual in the context of a defense ministers meeting, Estonia's public broadcaster ERR said. Climate crisis is an extremely important topic for the Finnish presidency of the EU and was chosen as a topic of the meeting of ministers of defense. 

The Estonian minister told ERR that the buildings and technology our defense forces possess are relatively new. Estonian military wish to refrain from using biofuel, as military equipment often stands idle for long periods of time. 

The defense ministers also discussed maritime security and, together with the ministers of foreign affairs, ways to improve preparedness for tackling of cyber threats. While the topic of Russia was not on the agenda, it came up in conversations between the attendees. 

According to Luik, a change of atmosphere can be sensed in Europe and America.

"A fetish is being made of it that you have to talk with Russia, Russia has to be invited to the table, whereas on the other hand Russia is taking this of course as a signal that their actions in Ukraine are gradually starting to be accepted. In my opinion, this is a quite negative tendency," Luik said.