Expert: Estonia must recognize historical facts

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“Another attempt of the Estonian Foreign Ministry secretary general to engage history in the current political process is counterproductive,” expert in issues of regional developments in the post-Soviet territory Sergey Artemenko said commenting on a statement made by Estonian Foreign Ministry Secretary General Matti Maasikas.

“If one continues the dialog in the categories ‘must’ or ‘must not,’ let’s speak about what Estonia must do. And Estonia must recognize a number of historical facts,” Artemenko said and added: “For instance, the conspiracy with the illegitimate Bolsheviks government in 1920 that allowed that illegitimate regime staying in power; participation of Estonians on the side of the fascist Germany in punitive actions against civilians and crimes against humanity. Besides, Estonia must recognize the fact of gross violation of the procedure of withdrawing from the Soviet Union.” Besides, according to the expert, “it is extremely necessary for Estonia to recognize the fact of sending rubles in 1993 to the city of Grozny instead of the Russian State Bank.” “The list of such facts that Estonia must recognize can be continued. And it is rather easy to sink the understanding, for which Maasikas calls, in this mutual list of debts,” Artemenko stressed.

Besides, Artemenko believes that the Estonian foreign ministry secretary general abandoned the juridical term “occupation” from his public rhetoric and preferred a more neutral one – “non-voluntary unification.” “However, it is necessary to wait and see whether it was a private initiative of the secretary general or a new policy of the Estonian foreign ministry,” the expert concluded.

Earlier, Estonian Foreign Ministry Secretary General Matti Maasikas announced in Moscow that Estonia joined the USSR 67 years ago on a non-voluntary basis and the Kremlin must recognize the historical fact. “Estonia will never agree that we joined the USSR in 1940 on a voluntary basis. Everything starts here. We do not need excuses or emotions. We need that Russia just recognizes it,” the Estonian diplomat said. Maasikas stressed that Estonia had a keen interest in good relations with the Eastern neighbor. “We shall only win from good relations. We want to do business to let our railways and bridges admit more goods and people from Russia,” the Estonian official said.