TALLINN - In response to recent Russian criticism, Prime Minister Juhan Parts said that despite diplomatic involvement in the ongoing public relations battle, Estonia would not allow this to escalate into an information war.
Speaking to reporters on July 22, Parts said Estonia shouldn't have to answer slanderous Russian statements just for the sake of response.
"We have a sincere wish to establish normal relations with Russia, but it's not through the medium of press releases that normal communication between two countries can take place. We cannot opt for an information war as the form of our communication with Russia," he said.
The prime minister added that while people may be under the impression that Estonia was doing nothing against the smear campaign originating in Russia, this was only due to a lack of transparency.
"Although the activity of our diplomats doesn't show, there's a lot of it going on in the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe and the OSCE," Parts said, adding that apparently the Foreign Ministry needs to develop better ways of informing people about its efforts.
"We have to take into account that the Russian propaganda campaign is not exceptional and that the situation of Estonia has changed after accession to the European Union and NATO. What is happening now can be called an information war, and in accordance, countermeasures and an action plan must be shaped," said the prime minister.
He added that the government needed to discover the true motives behind Russia's campaign.
"Certainly it's not worried about the situation of Russians living in the Baltic states. All of our partners understand that there are no violations of minority rights in Estonia, and we don't have to prove all the time that we're not camels. We don't have to go on refuting lies, but we have to explain the situation to our partners," Parts said.
In recent months Russia has taken a bold step up in its propaganda attacks against Estonia and Latvia, issuing almost daily statements that seek to depict Estonia as a country violating minority rights and promoting Nazi ideology.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe adopted a Russian-initiated resolution in early July calling for Estonia and Latvia to address their minority issues.
"It was a parliamentary discussion. Obviously Estonia must do more work in that organization," Parts said.
