Kaja Kallas: Sanctions against Russia work

Kaja Kallas (standing) during parliament questions time. Photo: Tairo Lutter

The sanctions imposed on Russia work, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said during parliament questions time on Wednesday.

The sanctions must continue, the prime minister underlined. The Estonian government has also approved proposals to be submitted for a new package of sanctions.

«We propose to establish a full trade embargo precisely because it would be the easiest to control,» Kallas said, adding that a lot of transit seemingly goes to Kyrgyzstan or other states, but there is reason to believe the goods actually end up in Russia instead.

«The talk of sanctions not working is not true. The real deficit of Russia's budget is about a third of the budget. They cannot compensate this deficit with loans from foreign markets, either,» she noted, referring to Russia not being able to borrow money from abroad due to sanctions.

The premier underscored the importance of Russia being unable to get additional funds from financial markets. She pointed out that Russia has serious problems financing the expenses of the state budget, because its liquid reserves are running out.

«Excluding Russia from this is extremely effective as a sanction in Western financial markets. That's why it also affects their military industry, they are unable to finance it. We have to believe in it and push it further for these sanctions to be in place and apply pressure because as we can see, they indeed have an impact,» she said.