Ukraine war is existential, Europe will step in to support if U.S. withdraws: Estonia MFA Secretary-General

For the last few years, we’ve seen European countries, Estonia included, coming to the Raisina dialogue, and trying to get India to change its position on Ukraine, for India to cut off its oil from Russia, and to put more pressure on Mr. Putin to end the war. With the global realignment and the US position towards Russia changing, what are your hopes from India now?

Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is a major concern for us. We have used the word existential to describe the way this war affects us. And we don’t use that word lightly. It is obviously a major concern for European security, and when you look at what is at stake in this war, then it’s a global issue: territorial integrity, sovereignty, the validity of the U.N Charter. This war will one day be over, and then we will be either in a situation where we manage to uphold those principles, or we will find ourselves in a situation where it has become the norm that a larger state can change borders, where the so called great powers of the world can divide up continents between them. We’re not asking for India to stand up for European interests or for Ukraine’s interests. We’re asking for India to use its powerful voice in upholding India’s interest, in a rules based world, and in the United Nations principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty. 

Despite this, India has not changed its stance on Russia since 2022, and now the United States is doing a 180 degrees. Has European diplomacy failed to convince them of its point of view?

Obviously, the fact that the war is still ongoing does mean that it’s a failure, not just the European failure to convince Mr. Putin that the time is no longer on the side of aggression, and that the world is not going to allow him to turn back time to when there are empires. So, yes, it is a collective failure and the Ukrainians are the ones paying the highest price for this in the unspeakable losses on a daily basis.  United States President Trump has declared his goal to be peace. The fact that the U.S. has now turned military assistance and intelligence sharing [after a pause] is extremely positive. But if the United States were to take a step back, then Europe would have to take a step forward. And I think over the past few weeks, Europe has demonstrated its ability to do so.

In what way can Europe change the course of a war that could not be changed with the might of the U.S. power behind Ukraine for the last three years? Boots on the ground?

We shall see what the future brings Europe. But we have had very active meetings on a weekly basis, several times a week, led by the U.K., trying to think through and present security guarantees for Ukraine that would kick in to gear once the fighting is over. This is something that we should have started working on three years now, but better late than never. 

Is the announcement made of an EU-India BTIA by the end of the year realistic, given it hasn’t been agreed to in 20 years? How could India and Estonia benefit from a trade agreement? 

Well, I’m inclined to be optimistic. Now, Estonia is 1,000 times smaller than India. Its population exactly three zeros less (1.37 billion to India’s 1.4 billion). Even so, in high tech cooperation, education, business cooperation, I think we can grow, especially given our capacities and the enormous talent pool in India. But for us to be able to take advantage of this potential, we need to understand each other, where we’re coming from, and what our history is.

Published – March 19, 2025 07:56 am IST