• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Tsahkna in Brussels: Navalny's murderer Putin must get a strong response from the EU

Republic of Estonia - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

20.02.2024

On 19 February, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna attended the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, where the agenda included comprehensive support to Ukraine, the death of Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, and the situation in the Middle East and the Sahel.

Julia Navalnaya attended the meeting to talk about the circumstances of the sudden death of her husband Alexei Navalny last Friday. "Russian President Vladimir Putin is a murderer who took the life of the one person in Russia who dared to defy him," Tsahkna said. "Navalny was also fighting for freedom and for democracy, just as Ukraine is doing now."

Discussing Russia's aggression in Ukraine, Tsahkna said that Russia has waged a full-scale war in Ukraine for two years now and unfortunately, nothing indicates that Putin's intentions have changed. "The clearest response to the killing of Navalny is immediate military aid to Ukraine," Tsahkna said. "The message to Russia must be clear. There will be no flexibility or return to normal relations before Ukraine has won and the damage caused to Ukraine has been compensated," Tsahkna emphasised.

"We have done a lot for Ukraine in these past two years and offered comprehensive support, including historic military and political assistance, and imposed sanctions on 60% of trade with Russia," Tsahkna said. "However, this means that we still have 40% of EU trade to go to stop funding Russia's bloody war machine. We can and must do more."

"Russia is obligated to compensate the damage it has caused in its war of aggression and profits from blocked assets must be directed quickly into covering Ukraine's needs," Tsahkna said, welcoming the EU's discussion on using blocked Russian assets for helping Ukraine. "I also briefed my European colleagues about our domestic plan and legislation that would allow us to rebuild Ukraine with frozen assets."

Tsahkna also gave them an overview of Estonia's positions on the decision of the Russian Federation to add Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop to the Russian Interior Ministry's list of wanted persons.

Speaking about the situation in the Middle East, Tsahkna said that the EU's credibility depended on its response to global problems and on whether it can act as a substantial power in resolving them. "We are facing several crises that will define our future," Tsahkna said, adding that the decisions we make today will show whether we are bold enough to defend and maintain the rules-based order because our values should not be taken for granted.

In a letter to the EU's High Representative Josep Borrell, the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Sweden and Finland also expressed concern over the state of human rights in Belarus and emphasised the need to increase support to the democratic movement of Belarus and ramp up pressure on Lukashenko's regime.

Tomorrow, Tsahkna and his Nordic and Baltic colleagues will travel to New Delhi in India for the annual Raisina Dialogue. The foreign minister will also meet with India's foreign minister and minister of state and attend the reception celebrating the 106th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia.