Estonia

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has stated that 'Russian is a language of occupants' in an interview with Swiss newspaper Der Bund. The statement was in response to a question over why Russian is not an official language in Estonia, likely prompted by the ongoing language issue in neighbouring Latvia. Ilves told the interviewer not to 'ask ridiculous questions' and to imagine 'that we occupy your country and claim an official status for Estonian in 50 years'. We have highlighted the potential for relations between the Baltic countries and Russia to become more belligerent as the latter adopts a more aggressive international stance.

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