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Jaak Allik, a social democrat in Estonian parliament, has clarified his statements in state TV foreign policy programme Välisilm, underlining that Russia has never been interested in Estonia alone and that out nation’s security is to be viewed in a broader European context.
Mr Allik explained that, in his interview to Krister Paris, he ought to have stressed that Russia has never attacked only Estonia, that the events on Estonian soil have occurred within larger military actions. «Whether the Livonian War or World War II, and the events of 1939-1940 – these also happened to Lithuania and Latvia. And Finland. Finland resisted. Estonia, specifically, has never been of interest to Russia.»
He added that, in his estimation, it is weird to talk about a specific Russian threat to Estonia alone, separately from our NATO and EU memberships.
«Talking about current threat… to assess that, the NATO-Russia balance must me observed, and, on basis of that, we need to draw conclusions on the hazard increasing or decreasing. But, to scare Estonians with a specific Russian hazard, Estonia being a NATO member, for me is incomprehensible.»
Mr Allik added that, in 21st century, we are not able to defend our state alone; this must be done in cooperation with allies.
«Our aim is to be helping Russia, USA – as a leading NATO power – and European Union improve their relations. Our security is guaranteed by good Russia-NATO-US relations.»
Mr Allik said that, as an historian, he does not deny self-evident facts like [Estonian] War of Independence, Soviet Occupation and deportations.