TALLINN - President Arnold Ruutel criticized former Pro Patria leaders Mart Laar and Lennart Meri of botching an opportunity to reach a border treaty agreement with Russia in 1992.
During an interview with Kanal 2 reporter Rando Tooming on June 23, Ruutel said he had appealed to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin with a proposal to mark a natural demographic border between the countries, which the latter was almost ready to sign, said Ruutel.
The draft treaty would have left Narva 10 kilometers west of the border, designated 13 or 14 more villages to the Seto minority and given the Ingrian people legal autonomy.
However, when the right-wing Pro Patria formed the government and chose Meri as president and Laar as prime minister, the two were unable to effectively discuss basic border concepts, Ruutel said.
The president's press officer, Eero Raun, clarified on June 28 that Ruutel was not blaming the former leaders for the failure of the border treaty; rather, he was simply clarifying historical facts. The president was only trying to explain that discussion with Yeltsin over the border in 1991 could have developed differently, Raun said.
Still, the president's words cut deep.
According to a Pro Patria press release, Laar was both surprised and indignant at Ruutel's declaration. The former PM recalled that by the time Meri took the presidency in autumn 1992, relations between Russia and Estonia were already strained.
He said that if Ruutel were not president, he would take the issue to court.
Laar voiced hope that the president would either apologize or provide documents that proved his statements.
Toomas Alatalu, political scientist and MP, said that the president's timing was both wrong and inappropriate, adding that the 1992 border treaty issue was by no means a new one.
The foreign ministers of Estonia and Russia inked a border treaty deal in May, only to have Russia back out once Estonia's Parliament attached a clause mentioning the occupation.
The last time Ruutel mentioned the issue was during his 2001 election campaign on a TV show hosted by Urmas Ott, Alatalu said.
"When the political power changed in 1992 and Ruutel was replaced, no one asked anything from him. He was not even particularly thanked for what he had done. As a matter of fact, the exchange of information between former and functioning powers was not arranged," said Alatalu.
A few days after the president's interview, former President Meri spoke to the same Kanal 2 reporter. Meri said that the president's reproaching statements could not be taken seriously since Yeltsin did not earnestly comprehend the treaty.
Reflecting on the historical meeting with Yeltsin, Meri emphasized that the atmosphere was naive when it came to long-term negotiations.
Leivi Sher, who served as Ruutel's advisor in the 1990s, told the SL Ohtuleht that the border treaty drew much attention and discussion during that historical meeting. Relations between Russia and Estonia, Sher said, were outwardly friendly at the time. Yeltsin even believed that the Soviet border should be re-established, he added.
There were still Russian troops stationed in Estonia at the time.
What's more, Sher recalled that Yeltsin and Ruutel met halfway during their negotiations, although he could not list their political achievements in detail.
