INTERVIEW-Estonia could withstand Russian sanctions-PM
04 May 2007 14:52:06 GMT Source: Reuters
By Gernot Heller TALLINN, May 4 (Reuters) - Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said on Friday he believed his country could weather any sanctions imposed by Russia to punish the small Baltic state for moving a Soviet war memorial. The relocation of a bronze monument to Red Army soldiers who died during World War Two sparked riots by Russian residents in Tallinn and a furious reaction from the upper house of the Russian parliament, which asked President Vladimir Putin to sever relations with Estonia. Ansip said he did not know whether Russia would impose economic sanctions on Tallinn but if it did, the effects would not be too serious. "We are not very dependent on the Russian economy," he told Reuters in an interview. Estonia can cover its own electricity requirements and sanctions would damage mainly Russian companies and investors, Ansip said. Only about 2 percent of Estonia's foreign investment comes from Russia, he added. A Russian industry source said on Friday that Russia would cut oil product exports via Estonia by 2 million tonnes in the next 1-2 months and would increase its exports via the Russian Baltic port of St Petersburg. Asked if he believed the situation was calming down, Ansip said: "It appears so." A few hours earlier the Estonian ambassador to Russia left Moscow on holiday, prompting hopes that ties between the two former Soviet states might relax. Ansip said he hoped there would be no riots in Tallinn on May 9, the anniversary of the Soviet Red Army's World War Two victory over Germany. About a quarter of Estonia's 1.3 million people are Russians, some of whom feel they have been poorly treated since Estonian independence. Many Estonians remember the Red Army not as liberators but as an occupation force during the nearly five decades Estonia was part of the Soviet Union until independence in 1991. Ansip criticised Moscow's reaction to the events surrounding the removal of the monument. "Such behaviour is not acceptable from a strategic partner of the European Union," he said. The EU told Russia this week it was concerned about the days of violent protests at Estonia's embassy in Moscow. Estonia joined the EU in 2004, along with nine other mostly former communist states. Despite his criticism, Ansip said he did not believe Russia's behaviour was a reason to cancel the EU-Russia summit due later this month. "It is always better to meet and talk to each other," he said.
