In the interview, Ilves also said Russia was inadequate in its assessments of the situation with the Bronze Soldier. “Russia, with its 140 millions of population, suddenly felt offended by this superpower Estonia with the population of a bit more than one million. Moscow became indignant at the fact that Estonians dared to recollect history. The problem is that there is no recognition of the fact that the Soviet regime killed and terrorized people in countries like Estonia. While speaking about liberation from Nazis, Moscow forgets that for Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians and Poles it means hundreds of thousands of deported people, dozens of thousands of killed people, Katyn. For us, the USSR embodies this instead of liberation from fascism.”

At the same time, the president stressed that he saw no problem in the fact that part of Russian population has no citizenship and deprived of rights; according to him, the subject of protecting rights of national minorities in the Baltic countries is raised only by Russia. “Probably, I will say something that may hurt some people, but actually, there is a parallel between the whites in South Africa – the group that was in a privileged position in the past, and now they are equal to the others. I comprehend that it is hard for someone to lose their privileges. The Estonian law on citizenship is much more liberal than in many European countries.”

In conclusion, Ilves said that attempts by some Russian politicians to divide Europe into the old and new ones is a hysterical reaction of people “who do not know how to behave themselves.” Ilves added that he saw no reasons why the EU should treat Russia differently from Latin American countries. “We discuss all issues, and I see no reason why we should treat Russia in a different way from the way we treat say Latin American countries. Evidently, Spaniards and Portuguese do understand well Latin American countries, and the experience is taken into consideration in the EU. We have the same role, because we know Russia better,” he concluded.