Estonia’s top diplomat thinks Russia’s war on Ukraine goes well beyond the front lines.
“This is not about Europe. I think that for Putin and for Russia, the U.S. is the main enemy, like historically,” Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told Fox News in an exclusive interview in Estonia’s capital, Tallinn.
“He has a plan to restore the Soviet empire, and this is exactly what he’s doing. Ukraine is just one example,” he added.
Nine years ago, Tsahkna, then serving as Estonia’s defense minister, watched as 120,000 Russian soldiers massed just across the border, ready to invade his country in just 48 hours.
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“Now these troops are gone. They were sent to Ukraine, and they are literally dead,” Tsahkna spoke from the foreign ministry Wednesday, where he now serves as Estonia’s top diplomat.
“At the moment, I don’t expect any kind of the full-scale military aggression against NATO because Russia is running out of power in Ukraine, to be honest,” Tsahkna added. “Economically, they’re very weak, but of course, we see that Russia is preparing again.”
Estonia is not taking any chances.
To ward off any potential invasion on NATO’s eastern flank, Estonia recently announced it would spend over 5% of its GDP on defense next year, a goal President Donald Trump has requested from all NATO countries.
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On Wednesday, Estonia officially welcomed the arrival of six HIMARS satellite-guided rocket systems made in the United States. It’s a weapon that has been used in Ukraine effectively, destroying targets up to 186 miles away.
“We have created, as Estonians, the rule that if the U.S. is investing $1, we are adding $10 on top of that. And all this going back to [sic] goes back to the U.S. economy, and we are getting the capabilities,” Tsahkna said.
In recent weeks, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Poland announced they would withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the use of anti-personnel land mines. Russia, which is not party to the treaty, has deployed mines in the roughly 20% of Ukraine it now occupies.
Estonia is a small country of 1.3 million people located in Eastern Europe, with an area about twice the size of New Jersey, It shares a 214-mile border with Russia.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, Estonia has cut off all energy imports from Russia. Today, it receives 80% of its natural gas from the United States.
Not all countries have been as defiant. The 27-nation European Union, of which Estonia is a member, has only cut 60% of its energy imports from Russia. Last year, the European Union spent more on Russian oil and gas than aid to Ukraine, according to the Kiel Institute.
The Kremlin is also waging war on another front as well. “Russia is using religion of the church as a tool for their own political goals,” Tsahkna said.
The foreign minister also weighed in on Russia’s proposed three-day ceasefire surrounding its May 9 celebrations marking the end of World War II. “This is not that serious,” Tsahkna replied.
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Since late 2023, nearly a dozen undersea cables in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland have been cut. Russia is suspected but “it’s very hard to say exactly,” Tsahkna said. Over 14 people from Russia’s so-called shadow fleet have been arrested. China is suspected of carrying out at least one act of sabotage as well.
NATO deployed warships off the coast of Estonia in January, and since then no cables have been cut, officers told Fox while on two ships in the Gulf of Finland Tuesday.
When asked about the prospects of a ceasefire and eventual end of hostilities in Ukraine, Tsahkna replied with a warning:
“President Trump has said very clearly that he wants to have peace. The Ukraine [sic] people want to have a [sic] peace – and I think that this is something that Putin doesn’t want.”
Tsahkna does not believe Putin would ever use nuclear weapons, calling such a move “political suicide.”
“He’s just brutal, but also sometimes, from the Western part of the world, we are too weak,” Tsahkna added. “Putin is playing with our fears.”
