EDITORIAL ⟩ Money that smells a bit strange

«If I were the mayor of Narva, I would immediately agree to anything if the mafia boss of Orcistan wanted to feed me directly from the hand. – The hand of his Tajik friend, to be exact!» Daily caricature, April 8. Illustration: Urmas Nemvalts

A possible trip by Narva Mayor Jaan Toots to Tajikistan to develop business ties would leave a somewhat strange impression and strengthen the image of the Center Party as a Russian party.

Postimees wrote on Saturday that Center Party deputy chairman and Narva Mayor Jaan Toots plans to travel to Tajikistan. Toots confirmed that he has received an invitation to Dushanbe but has not yet made a decision.

The purpose of the visit is to discuss plans to open a Tajik trading house in Narva. The contract for its creation was signed by Narva businessman Andrei Fešenko when meeting with Bahriddin Sirodjiddinzoda, head of the export agency under the Tajik government, in Dushanbe at the end of March. Fešenko, whose transport company operated largely eastward before Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago, hopes to find a replacement in Tajikistan for a business that collapsed due to the outbreak of a full-scale war.

Tajikistan is a dictatorial country that is one of Russia's allies and has been led by Emomali Rahmon since 1992. It is also one of those countries whose trade with Russia has grown exponentially after the imposition of Western sanctions against the latter. Thus, there is reason to believe that the country is being used to circumvent trade restrictions. Fešenko, however, confirms that he does not plan to violate the sanctions regime in any way.

It is also one of those countries whose trade with Russia has grown exponentially after the imposition of Western sanctions against the latter.

It is clear that a local government cannot have its own foreign policy, which somehow differs from that of the rest of the country. Although, we have had peculiar experiments -- let’s recall the declaration of cooperation signed by Otepää rural municipality mayor Kaido Tamberg and the Minister of Tourism of Chechnya Muslim Baitaziyev in 2018.

Toots himself thought that Tajikistan is a rich country and since Narva's ties with Russia have been cut off, substitutes must be found to do business with. However, if someone criticizes cooperation with authoritarian countries like Tajikistan, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs should decide on it in his opinion.

Of course, no one can really be banned from traveling to Tajikistan or from doing business there, unless it is related to some kind of sanctions evasion scheme. However, this is definitely a step that leaves quite a strange impression. If Toots should decide to travel to Dushanbe, it will of course only reinforce the image of the Center Party as a Russian party.

Of course, the mayor must support the business connections of local entrepreneurs. At the same time, it would seem more logical if Toots instead traveled to the Nordic countries or Western Europe with this purpose. After all, these are also rich countries.