C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TALLINN 000310
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958:
DECL: 05/11/2017
TAGS: PREL, RU, EN
SUBJECT: ESTONIA: GOE OFFICIALS ON THE BRONZE SOLDIER, RUSSIA AND INTEGRATION
REF: A. TALLINN 280 B. TALLINN 297
Classified By: DCM Jeff Goldstein for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d).

1. (C)
Summary: During a series of courtesy calls May 7-9, senior GOE
officials expressed appreciation for strong U.S. support after
the attack on Estonian's Embassy in Moscow. Prime Minister
Ansip noted Estonia did not want to create problems for its
allies, but emphasized that Russia's actions were "awful."
Speaker of Parliament En Ergma asserted that Russia is
motivated by a desire to keep Estonia from setting an example
for other countries in the region. The riots have focused the
GOE's attention on the need to improve communication channels
with Russian speaking residents in Estonia. Estonian TV has
launched a Russian language website and is considering
creating a Russian-language TV station to draw viewers from
Russia's media outlets. End Summary.

Estonia Appreciative of US Support
----------------------------------

2. (C)
On May 7 and 9, the Ambassador made his first calls on Prime
Minister Andrus Ansip, Speaker of Parliament Ene Ergma,
Minister of Foreign Affairs Urmas Paet and Minister of Defense
Jaak Aaviksoo. Each GOE official warmly welcomed the
Ambassador and thanked him for the USG's strong support after
the attack on Estonia's Embassy in Moscow. Prime Minister
Ansip said Estonia had ?really needed? U.S. support because
the attack on the Embassy in Moscow was a clear attack on
Estonia's sovereignty. "We don't want to be a trouble-maker"
or create problems for our allies, but Russia's behavior is
"awful." They are attacking everyone, not just their
neighbors, the Prime Minister added. Foreign Minister Paet
emphasized that U.S.-Estonian relations are important to
Estonia, and said that the invitation for President Ilves to
visit President Bush in June "came at just the right time."

3. (C)
In response to a question from the Ambassador, MOD Aaviksoo
said that EU and NATO support for Estonia was good, "but it
took some time." Aaviksoo explained that, initially, Europeans
assumed the problems in Estonia were internal. However, what
happened with Estonia's Embassy in Moscow was a strategic
mistake by the Russians, which made clear this was not just a
"monument problem." Aaviksoo said he believes the U.S.
Government has a better understanding of what is going on in
Russia right now than West European governments do. Europe's
complicated history is making it difficult for the EU to act
with one voice on critical questions like Russia, he said. In
Aaviksoo's view, Russia's strategic objective is to use
Estonia and other new member states to create tensions within
Europe and destabiliz the EU. The Ambassador responded that
Russian actions seem to be havin the opposite effect -
solidifying, rather than dividing European support for Estonia.

Moving the Statue Inevitable
----------------------------

4. (C)
Both Ansip and Defense Minister Aaviksoo told the Ambassador
that it was clear as early as a year ago that the GOE would
have to move the monument. At that point, Moscow had already
been using the Bronze Soldier to create conflict for several
years. Demonstrations near the monument in May 2006 created a
terrible situation in which Estonian police had to protect
people waving the Soviet flag. The monument's new location in
the military cemetery provides a respectful resting place for
the graves and keeps people fro attaching other meanings to
the statue. Now the statue only serves to commemorate the
victims of World War II. Aaviksoo said he was "not
pessimistic" about the GOE's decision to move the monument.
According to Aaviksoo, the Bronze Soldier's original location
was too close to th seat of Government - the GOE had to show
it could control the situation there.

Russian Intentions
------------------

5. (C) Estonian officials emphasized to the Ambassador the
broad scope of Russian efforts to pressure Estonia, including
supportin the groups which organized the April 26-27 riots,
allowing demonstrations outside Estonia's Embassy in Moscow to
get out of hand, launching large-scale cyber attacks on
Estonian government and media websites, halting some rail
traffic to and through Estonia and encouraging the boycott of
Estonian goods. PM Ansip called the cyber attacks a
"well-organized, focused attack" on GOE institutions and pres
in Estonia, and suggested NATO study what happened. Ansip
explained that during the crisis, Russian websites were able
to spread disinformation while Estonian websites were down.

6. (C)
Speaker Ergma opined that Russian efforts thus far are

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"only the tip of the iceberg." Russia does not like the good
example that Estonia sets for other countries in the region
like Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, she stated. Defense
Minister Aaviksoo suggested Russia is trying to clean up the
"messy situation" it faced after Yeltsin's rule. He noted that
a democratic Russia is in the Baltic countries' and Eastern
Europe's interest, because a weak Russia "always ends badly."
However, Russia is moving away from democracy - a trend that
is unlikely to change even after Russia's presidential
election.

Whither Integration?
-------------------

7. (C)
Both Defense Minister Aaviksoo and Foreign Minister Paet spoke
a length about the status of Estonian integration efforts in
the face of the April riots. Aaviksoo noted that although it
would be very easy to simply group all ethnic Russians in with
the looters and rioters, most Russian residents stayed home
during the riots. On the positive side, the GOE now has a
clearer picture of who it can work with in the Russian
community. In fact, Aaviksoo added, Estonia may be stronger
now than it was before the riots because there are fewer
opportunities for forces supported by Russia to destabilize
Estonia.

8. (C)
Aaviksoo said he believes the GOE's policy of encouraging
gradual naturalization has been an effective tool for
integrating minorities into the Estonian system. Paet pointed
out that integration is an issue for every European country
and asserted that integration efforts in Estonia "have not
failed." Estonia's political arena is not divided along ethnic
lines, Paet noted. The largest Russian party in Estonia
received less than 1% of the vote in last month's parliamentary
elections, even with financial support from the Kremlin.

9. (C)
Both Paet and Aaviksoo conceded, however, that the GOE has a
problem communicating effectively with Estonia's Russian
speaking residents. Aaviksoo said the GOE's emphasis on
teaching Russian speakers Estonian, rather than simply trying
to communicate with them in Russian, has not been successful.
We expected that when they learned Estonian, they would start
reading Estonian news and watching Estonian TV, Aaviksoo said.
But, this has not happened. Rather, Russian speakers in
Estonia continue to get their news from Russia's media outlets
which are aggressive and unfriendly toward Estonia. (Note:
Paet made the same point but said Russian TV was full of "lies
and propaganda." End Note.) Aaviksoo noted that the GOE has
learned its lesson and is taking "big steps" to improve
communication with the minority population. Both Aaviksoo and
Paet cited Estonian TV's May 8 launch of a Russian-language
website as a positive step forward. Paet was pessimistic about
creating a Russian language TV station in Estonia noting it
would be very difficult to compete with Russia's well-finance
media outlets.

PHILLIPS