Russian tolerance warning from Estonian president

TALLINN- President Toomas Hendrik Ilves warned Europe about excessive tolerance towards Russia's conduct and dependence on Russian energy. 

In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, Ilves said that "some EU countries will certainly soon start behaving as if the Russian aggression against Georgia in August never happened."

In his words, he sees that Russia can do anything it pleases within its borders, such as bombing Chechnya, but outside Russia, the fact that people are free to decide their own future no longer holds since the Russian invasion of Georgia in August.

 Ilves said one should not believe that Russia will calm down if NATO closed its door to Ukraine and Georgia.

"Moscow looks on the former Soviet territories as its sphere of influence. Should we respect this but not the Ukrainians' and the Georgians' decision to integrate into the West?" he asked.

In Ilves' opinion, Estonia with its large Russian population need not worry about its security even though Russia justified the incursion into Georgia with protection of the Russian minority.

"Almost nowhere else in the world can Russians live and maintain their culture as freely as here. What should those people be protected from -- liberal democracy? We need not fear invasion, because we are a member country of NATO," the president said.

Ilves said the EU should offer more to Georgia and Ukraine to foster the democratization process. He mentioned that it is at present considerably simpler for instance to obtain an entry visa for EU countries in Russia than in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

"Europe must call a spade a spade and put in place firm rules in interaction with Russia," Ilves said.