ESTONIA: GOE OFFICIALS ON THE BRONZE SOLDIER,

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