Last week, Russian media took note of the latest provocative statements by Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. She has led Russia's tiny Baltic neighbor into a firm hawkish anti-Moscow position. The country was part of the wave of eastern European nations to join NATO in the mid-2000s during the Bush era.
She's calling for the breakup of the Russian Federation. Kallas proposed during a debate in the country's capital of Tallinn last week that Russia could become much "smaller" as a desired outcome of the Ukraine war.
"Russia’s defeat is not a bad thing because then you know there could really be a change in society," the prime minister told the 17th Lennart Meri Conference, as translated in Russia's RT.
She said that currently the Russian Federation can actually be seen as making up "many different nations" and that they could be naturally broken into separate states.
"I think if you would have more like small nations... it is not a bad thing if the big power is actually [made] much smaller," Kallas asserted.
Despite its small size Estonia has been outspoken over the last several months related to the war. For example it recently appeared to back French President Macron's call for NATO to consider sending Western troops to Ukraine:
The government of Estonia is “seriously” discussing the possibility of sending troops into western Ukraine to take over non-direct combat, “rear” roles from Ukrainian forces in order to free them up to fight on the front, though no decision is imminent, Tallinn’s national security advisor to the president told Breaking Defense.
Of course, these troops would face the possibility of direct attack by Russian aerial forces, even if in the "rear" and far away from front battle lines.
And more recently, there's the potential for a fresh border dispute brewing:
Moscow is looking to test NATO's "resolve" after Kremlin border guards removed buoys that marked Russia's maritime border with Estonia, according to a report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Estonian Police and Border Guard said in a release that Russian law enforcement removed part of the floating border placed in the Narva River overnight Thursday. The buoys are used to mark shipping routes and the border is placed every spring as part of a 2022 agreement between Tallinn and Moscow, Estonian police said.
Such provocations are likely to continue, perhaps as some level of retaliation for Estonian leaders' consistently bold remarks aimed at Moscow.
Political map/states of the Russian Federation...
There's been a tread of the leaders of pro-West Baltic states increasingly talking 'tough' throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but ultimately they all must rely on strong Western backing, including from Washington.
