US defence officials urged the Baltic States to tone down their rhetoric on the threat posed by Russia, arguing that some statements had undermined European security, Reuters reported. One of the US officials was Elbridge Colby, Under Secretary of Defence for Policy at the US Defence Department, who insisted on not “poking” Russia. He pointed…
Baltic officials were mostly critical of Finnish President Alexander Stubb’s and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre’s phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna insisted that “every contact with Russia must convey Europe’s unity and determination to support Ukraine and maintain pressure on Russia,” ERR reported. He called for increased…
The Estonian rare earths processor, NPM Silmet, plans to stop using raw materials from Russia’s state-owned Solikamsk Magnesium Works (SMZ) by the end of 2026, ERR reports. NPM Silmet said that it would have to reduce production at its plant in Sillamäe as a result. The company is still waiting for a final shipment from…
The Estonian government has banned transit shipments of grain from Russia and Belarus, ERR reports. Amid attacks on shipping in the Black Sea, Russia has diverted grain exports away from Black Sea ports to other ports, including on the Baltic Sea coast. Russia and Belarus have not used Estonian ports to export grain to third…
The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, travelled to Moscow to warn Russia against attacking NATO countries, particularly the Baltic States, CBS, Politico, and The Wall Street Journal reported. Earlier, US intelligence assessed that Russia was considering attacks in the Baltic region to test NATO unity. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman,…
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal stressed the importance of preserving the EU’s Schengen Area, insisting that creating new internal borders within the free movement area was “in no way in the interests of Estonia or Estonians,” ERR reported. He was responding to reactions to the recent sudden influx of irregular migrants from Morocco to Spain’s North…
Latvia and Lithuania and six other EU member states have joined Estonia’s call to ban EU funding for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), ERR reported. Earlier, the IOC executive committee provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee, allowing Russian athletes to return to international competitions under the Russian flag. Under the Estonian proposal,…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend a summit meeting of the prime ministers of the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) countries in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, on 9 June 2026, ERR reports. Zelensky will meet with Estonian President Alar Karis and Prime Minister Kristen Michal, while Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, will meet with his Estonian counterpart,…
Two thirds of Estonian voters disapprove of the government’s performance, according to a new Norstat poll in May 2026, ERR reports. In the survey, 67% of respondents said that the government was performing poorly, while 27% found that the government was doing its job well. The government’s approval rating was unchanged from April 2026. Support…
