BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Russians are world's 2nd highest spenders on alcohol

Russian consumers ranked second only to Estonians in terms of the amount of money they spent on alcoholic beverages last year, Euromonitor International said in a report. While Estonian consumers spent 6.5 percent of their cash on beer, wine or spirits in 2013, Russians spent 5.8 percent, or $61.5 million, on alcohol.

Beer was the preferred tipple for Russians, with $27.5 million spent on it, whereas $21.9 million was sunk into spirits and $12 million on wine, Lenta.ru reported. A large proportion of consumers' money in Belarus, Peru, Latvia and Lithuania also went toward buying alcohol.

The highest per capita spender on alcohol in 2013 was Finland, followed by Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand and Estonia. The latter is expected to become the world's leader in per capita spending on alcohol by 2021.

The report said that between 2008 and 2013 Hong Kong recorded the highest growth of per capita expenditure on alcohol. The global average for consumer expenditure on booze was 1.5 percent, while per capita consumer alcohol spending in 2013 stood at $86.

The level of per capita consumer expenditure on alcoholic drinks in a country is directly influenced by government policies, such as alcohol bans, high taxes on spirits or advertising bans, the report said, adding that the share of consumer spending on alcohol sheds light on countries' income levels, consumption habits and demographic trends.

Missing observers near Donetsk are from Estonia, Turkey, Switzerland, Denmark

VIENNA - Four observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that went missing on Monday near the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk are nationals of Estonia, Turkey, Switzerland and Denmark, Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for Ukraine’s mission in Ukraine, said on may 27.

Bociurkiw told ITAR-TASS that it is still impossible to establish contact with the monitors.

The OSCE special observer mission in Ukraine said Tuesday it has lost contact with its team working in the Donetsk Region. According to an OSCE news release, the organization was last in touch with the group of four monitors at 18.00 local time on Monday, when the group was involved in planned patrols of Donetsk's eastern part.

The OSCE said it is continuing efforts to establish contact with the group, adding that the Ukrainian government and regional authorities have been informed.

U.S. House of Representatives passes “Black Ribbon Day” legislation recognizing Victims of Soviet Communist and Nazi regimes

U.S. House of Representatives passes “Black Ribbon Day” legislation
recognizing Victims of Soviet Communist and Nazi regimes

Washington, DC – Legislation designating August 23 as a “Black Ribbon Day” commemorating the victims of both Soviet communist and Nazi terror passed yesterday in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is a culmination of an ongoing two-year effort by the Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC) seeking passage of this legislation.

Congressman John Shimkus of Illinois, the co-chairman of the House Baltic Caucus, sponsored the legislation and effectively shepherded its passage in the House. The legislation, part of a National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4435), will now be taken up by the Senate. A conference committee of both houses will work out differences.

On the eve of the bill’s passage, JBANC contacted all House member offices individually to muster needed additional support for the resolution’s passage. JBANC stressed the importance of passing the legislation this year since it marks the 75^th year since the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939. The pact divided Europe between Nazi Germany and the USSR and ushered in WWII. Ultimately this led to the 50 year Soviet occupation of the Baltic countries. This year will also mark 25 years since the “Baltic Way” was organized in 1989. This human chain united some two million Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians in an iconic demonstration of their resolve for freedom and independence.

JBANC’s appeal to Congress also highlighted the ongoing violations of Ukraine’s sovereignty and Putin’s concurrent aggression, a haunting reminder of Hitler’s and Stalin’s maneuvers leading to the outbreak of the Second World War.

In EU, household electricity prices rose by 2.8% in H2 2013

In the EU, household electricity prices rose by 2.8% on average between the second half of 2012 and the second half of 2013, after an increase of 6.0% between the second half of 2011 and 2012, reports LETA/ELTA.

Household gas prices increased by 1.0% on average in the EU between the second half of 2012 and 2013, after a rise of 8.2% between the second half of 2011 and 2012, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, said.

Change in electricity prices ranged from a decrease of 15% in Cyprus to an increase of 22% in Estonia.

Between the second half of 2012 and the second half of 2013, the highest increases in household electricity prices in national currency were registered in Estonia (+22%), Greece (+20%), Romania (+17%), France and Lithuania (both +10%). The highest decreases were observed in Cyprus (-15%), Hungary (-14%), Spain (-9%) and Bulgaria (-8%), while prices remained stable or nearly stable in Latvia, Malta and Finland.

Excessive language requirements may be lifted in Estonia to ease career opportunities for Russians

Estonia's Education Ministry has referred a bill amending the Law on the Language and allowing Russian candidates to fill high posts in the public sector, to other ministries and agencies for approval procedures.

Such candidates would not be required to bring their command of the Estonian language to Level C2 which is the top level in spoken Estonian, the ministry's press service reported on Tuesday. Since no exams are organized to check this particular level, people have no opportunity to demonstrate their skills, it said.

"This situation is unacceptable since candidates are required to do what they actually cannot do," Education and Science Minister Jevgeny Ossinovsky, the only Russian minister in the Estonian government, said, Interfax reports.

"The artificially rigorous requirements which cannot be fulfilled are in obvious contradiction with the principle of equal circulation of the languages," he said. "They constitute one of the reasons why there are so few people in the public sector whose native language is Russian," the minister said.

He said the current situation does not allow people to climb to the top of the career ladder. If the bill is adopted the problem will be solved, he said. However, the bill would give the employer the right to require a level of Estonian language speaking skills which he finds appropriate for the job, although they must not be higher than Level C1.

Baltics can keep lights on if Russia turns off the gas

Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia depend on Russia for all their gas imports, but they each have defenses in place to ensure sufficient energy supplies if Moscow cuts off gas exports in an escalation of the Ukraine crisis.

Russia's Gazprom has threatened to cut supplies to Ukraine in June if it receives no payment toward the billions of euros it owes. Gazprom supplies about 30 percent of Europe's gas and ships about half of that via Ukraine.

For the Baltics, however, the long-feared risk that Russia could use energy as a political weapon has encouraged them to come up with alternatives. These countries, therefore, have been some of the most vocal critics of what they see as Russian expansionism, pressing the European Union to adopt tougher sanctions in the crisis.

Estonia, out of all EU members, was the second least dependent on energy imports after Denmark in 2012, data from Estonia's statistics office showed. Its main fuel for power generation in 2012 was shale oil at 81 percent, while renewables contributed another 15.2 percent.

Latvia's underground storage can hold as much as 2.3 billion cubic meters of gas for withdrawal, far exceeding its consumption of 1.5 bcm in 2013. After a mild winter, it still holds some reserves and will soon start injecting gas again. In an extreme case, it can also withdraw the gas stored to keep the pressure in the reservoir, known as buffer gas, of which there is enough to meet its demand for a year.

Internet under fire from states seeking to control information

When the Freedom Online Coalition, a 23-government organisation that promotes an open and secure internet, selected Tallinn as the site for its fourth annual Freedom Online conference, the choice would prove timely and relevant.

As delegates gathered this week for the event in the former Soviet state, tensions had escalated yet again in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin had declared the internet to be a CIA plot and proposed the establishment of a separate Russian national internet. He also apparently had taken over Russia’s largest social network, VK.

Estonia, which shares a border with Russia and has a substantial Russian-speaking minority amongst its 1.4 million citizens, knows what it is like to live with an unpredictable bear looking over its shoulder. It understands the uses and abuses of covert surveillance, and propaganda wars.

And, it gets the internet – both its pluses and minuses. On the positive side, the young state remade itself into one of the world’s most cutting-edge online societies, where nearly everyone files taxes and votes online, pays for goods and services electronically, and avails of widespread free wifi in cities and towns.

On the negative side, it endured a major hacking attack – waves of attacks stretching over many weeks – when in 2007, a Soviet war monument was moved from the city centre to the outskirts of Tallinn.

Russia starts combat helicopter training flights on Baltic border

MOSCOW – A newly formed Russian army helicopter brigade has begun training flights in the northwest of the country near the borders with the Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia, a spokesman for the Western Military District said Wednesday.

“Helicopters of the army aviation brigade of the Western Military District, based in the Pskov region, have begun regular training flights in the skies over northwestern Russia,” Col. Oleg Kochetkov said.

Kochetkov said the flights involve dozens of Mi-28N Night Hunter and Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters as well as Mi-8MTV-5 and Mi-26T combat transport helicopters. The 15th army aviation brigade, formed in December and stationed at the Ostrov airbase, is fully equipped with new, recently-built helicopters. The brigade currently comprises three helicopter squadrons, with two more to be added in the near future.

Media in the former Soviet Baltic states, as well as Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom, have expressed security concerns about Russia’s decision to station the 15th brigade near NATO’s borders.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier announced the beginning of military drills of units from the Southern and Western military districts near the borders with Ukraine and the Baltic states in response to an “unprecedented” increase of NATO military activity near Russia amid the Ukrainian crisis.

The combat drills come as NATO is ramping up its military presence in the region. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced earlier this month that the alliance would intensify air patrols over Eastern Europe and dispatch extra ships to the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas due to the crisis in Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that NATO was attempting to use the Ukrainian crisis as an imaginary threat to unite the alliance’s members and to push for Moscow's isolation.

Easter weekend brings warm weather

Allergy sufferers are now advised to begin taking their anti-allergy medication, with birch trees forecast to begin blooming ahead of schedule and winds set to carry airborne pollen from Sweden and Russia in the days to come.

In addition, birch trees in southern Estonia are forecast to begin blooming over the Easter weekend, says Annika Saarto, a university researcher at the Aerobiology Unit of the University of Turku.

In fact, people sensitive to birch pollen may suffer from nasal congestion already today, as strong winds transport pollen particles to southern regions of the country, estimates Mikko Routala, a meteorologist at Helsingin Sanomat.

The winds are expected to die down on Saturday, offering temporary relief to allergy sufferers.

Overall, weather over the Easter weekend is forecast to be relatively warm. Despite overcast skies, the mercury may already on Friday climb to over ten degrees Celsius. On Sunday and Monday, the temperatures are forecast to increase further.

“It's T-shirt weather in the south, as temperatures rise to close to 20 degrees. Whether or not the 20-degree mark will be pierced, we shall see on Monday at the latest,” Routala says.

23 years after being declared an alien, Ireland declares Roman Uustalu stateless

ROMAN UUSTALU is stateless. Still, that’s probably better than being declared an “alien”, something he was 23 years ago. In what is believed to be the first ever first declaration of its kind by the Irish State, Uustalu was declared stateless yesterday by the the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service.

It comes ahead of High Court proceedings being taken by Uustalu against the Minister for Justice scheduled for next Tuesday. Uustalu’s solicitors say that he is from the district of Ida-Virumaa in Estonia, and is of Russian ethnicity. At the time of his birth, this area was within the territory of the USSR.

Then in 1991, when Uustalu was 14-years-old , Estonia became an independent State and the town where he grew up, which was made up of mostly Russian inhabitants, became part of the new territory of the Estonian State.

But the newly formed Estonian government did not issue Estonian citizenship to all residents within the territory of Estonia. Persons of Russian ethnicity, like Uustalu, were issued with an “Alien’s Passport”, identifying their citizenship as “undefined”.

Uustalu has lived in Ireland since 2002, but Karen Berkeley of Brophy Solicitors says that his status in Ireland has been undefined until now:

Until now Mr Uustalu could not obtain recognition of his stateless status because no legal or administrative process has been set up to deal with such applications. This is despite Ireland’s obligations pursuant to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, which Ireland has ratified.

“In February 2013, Brophy Solicitors submitted an application to the Minister for Justice and Equality for a declaration of statelessness, and on receiving no response three months later, subsequently issued High Court proceedings for Mr Uustalu,” she said.

7 parts of Russia that other countries could call theirs

If Crimea ‘historically’ belongs to Russia, these other regions ‘historically’ don’t.

The rise and fall of empires, two World Wars and the collapse of the Soviet Union mean the map of Europe has been redrawn more times than Russian President Vladimir Putin has posed shirtless. And anyone who claims they owned anywhere first would, if they were being entirely honest, probably have to admit that someone else got there before them.

That was Putin’s logic for the Russian annexation of Crimea. It used to be ours. Therefore it always was, therefore it still is.

Well, by the same token, several other countries could take bites out of Russia. The world’s largest country didn’t start off that way. Just like every other empire, it invaded, conquered, negotiated and seized the lands it now calls its own.

Some of those lands are fiercely disputed to this day, some are the subjects of uneasy settlements, and some have long ago been relinquished to Russia’s unchallenged control. But here’s a list of the most important Russian territories that other countries could, if they chose, try to claim back.

1. The Kuril Islands: Claimed by Japan

The tiny Estonian town that could spell the end of NATO

The Russian invasion and rapid absorption of the Crimean peninsula might seem like the spark ready to ignite a new Cold War. In fact, given the feeble Western response so far, the more likely outcome is not the division of Europe once more between NATO’s Western alliance and a neo-Soviet Russia, but rather the fracturing and ultimate demise of NATO and the Western alliance itself.

Of course, no one expects the West to use military force to protect Ukrainian territory, despite the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in which Russia, the US and the UK guaranteed Ukrainian sovereignty in exchange for its relinquishing the nuclear weapons that remained on its territory after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yet even the Russians now seem surprised, indeed somewhat amused, by how disunited and craven the Western response has been. Far from being isolated, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin’s very decisiveness has made him the most respected statesman in the world. So what comes next?

Having demonstrated to the Ukrainians with his Crimean excursion the emptiness of Western guarantees in the Budapest memorandum, Putin can now credibly demand that Ukraine either accept its status as a Russian vassal or cede more territory – starting with the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, which has a slight Russian majority (he can also exert pressure from Moldova’s breakaway region, Transnistria, on Ukraine’s western flank, which has operated as a Russian colony for the past 20 years).

Estonian sees rise in online-shopping packages from China

Estonia's national Eesti Post is currently sorting through up to 9,000 Online-shopping parcels from China daily, which is a three-fold growth compared with last year and lingering at Christmas-rush levels, according to local media.

In the first two months of 2013, 55,000 packages were sent to Estonia from China, but the trend of buying cheap goods from online Chinese retailers has grown to 130,000 during the same period this year, Estonian internet portal Delfi reported Friday.

Kaido Padar, head of the state-owned Eesti Post's package service, said that deliveries from China have to be entered into the Estonian system manually, which takes up increasing man hours. He said European postal authorities are in talks with China over automating this process, the Estonian Public Broadcasting reported.

During the last Christmas and New Year holiday season, postal workers in Estonia sorted through around 10,000 parcels per day, mostly Estonian consumers' online-shopping from China for its huge variaty and competitive price.

Russian military starts aviation exercises in northwest

Russia's military started large-scale aviation exercises in the northwest on Wednesday, officials said, close to Baltic ex-Soviet republics that are members of NATO and wary of Russia after its annexation of Crimea.

The exercises involving jet fighters and bombers were being conducted in regions that do not border Ukraine. A senior Russian military source said they had been planned in December and had no political significance.

Interfax reported that the drills would involve more than 40 Sukhoi and MiG warplanes and were being held in regions including Leningrad, which borders NATO-member Estonia and Finland, and Karelia, which shares a long border with Finland.

The drill ends in late March, it cited a spokesman for the Western Military District, Colonel Oleg Kochetkov, as saying. Russia has held major military exercises in regions near Ukraine twice in recent weeks, raising concern in Kiev and the West that Moscow could have designs on eastern Ukrainian regions where there are many Russian speakers.

President Vladimir Putin sought to assuage those fears on Tuesday, saying Russia did not want to take over other regions or partition Ukraine. But he has reserved the right to send in the military to protect Russians there if needed.

Russia sent thousands of soldiers to Crimea in the buildup to a weekend referendum in which the Russian-majority region voted overwhelmingly to leave Ukraine and join Moscow. Ukraine and Western governments have dismissed the referendum as a sham.

The United States has emphasised NATO's collective commitment to protect member states, sending F-16 fighter jets to Poland for drills last week and holding joint exercises with other allies that were once Soviet satellites. In Warsaw on Tuesday, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden accused Russia of a "land grab" in Crimea and said the United States may conduct more drills with NATO allies in the region.

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Moscow signals concern for Russians in Estonia

Russia readying East Ukraine invasion after Crimea

Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing to “invade eastern Ukraine” after occupying the country’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, Estonia said.

Russia warned that Ukraine’s government has lost control of the country yesterday, fueling concern the Kremlin may extend a military intervention as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called for it to halt a takeover of the disputed province.

Events in Ukraine “clearly show that the Russian Federation only accepts force,” Estonian Defense Minister Urmas Reinsalu said in an e-mailed statement today. To deter Putin, “a clear message needs to be sent that an attack will cost the aggressor dearly.”

In the biggest dispute between Russia and the West since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the standoff is shaking markets and threatening to upset more than two decades of economic and diplomatic integration between former Cold War enemies. It’s also raising the risk that a lasting geographical conflict zone may emerge between Russia and the European Union.

Ott Ummelas

Russia calls for OSCE probe into Kiev sniper deathss

Moscow — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday last called for an OSCE investigation into who was behind the deaths of dozens of people in Kiev last month in attacks by snipers, saying the truth could no longer be "covered up".

Lavrov's comments came after Estonia's top diplomat told EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in a phone call leaked this weak that the then-Ukrainian opposition to president Viktor Yanukovych may have been involved in the attacks.

"The latest information about the so-called snipers case can no longer be covered up," Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow with his Tajik counterpart.

"We have proposed that the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) takes up an objective investigation of this and we will ensure there is justice. There have been too many lies, and this lie has been used too long to push European public opinion in the wrong direction, contrary to the objective facts."

Western states have blamed Yanukovych's now disbanded elite riot police force for much of the killing that rocked in Kiev in February. However Russia has strongly emphasised the leaked phone call between Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and Ashton as evidence for its argument that the new post-Yanukovych government in Kiev is made up of dangerous extremists.

Lavrov's call for a full probe indicates that this is an issue Russia will not allow to drop, risking new tensions with the West. In the audio of the February 26 call, whose authenticity was confirmed by Estonia, Paet told Ashton he was informed in Kiev that "they were the same snipers killing people from both sides."

Dozens of protesters and around 15 police officers were killed in the attacks. Paet, who had held talks with Ukraine's new leaders on February 25, added: "It's really disturbing that now the new coalition, they don't want to investigate what exactly happened."

Copyright © 2014 AFP

Is the EU ready for Ukraine membership?

When the scar-faced Viktor Yushchenko emerged from the bowels of the Orange revolution as the new president of Ukraine in 2005, it seemed like Europe was at his feet. Today, Ukraine is standing at the geopolitical crossroads again, writes Ainius Lasas.

When the scar-faced Viktor Yushchenko emerged from the bowels of the Orange revolution as the new president of Ukraine in 2005, it seemed like Europe was at his feet. The leaders of the European Union were eager to sing high praises to the new hero of the Western democratic order. Yushchenko used this popularity to convey a simple message – Ukraine wants to become a member of the European Union. The more he repeated the message, the more it became apparent that Europe was not ready to commit. At the 2006 EU-Ukraine summit, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso was quite blunt: “Ukraine is not ready, and we are not ready.” Instead, the European leaders offered an enhanced cooperation agreement, which fell far short of Ukrainian expectations.

Today Ukraine is standing at the geopolitical crossroads again, but its political and economic situation is more fragile than it was in 2005. It faces challenges that need a new kind of response of the European Union. Financial aid and the association agreement is not enough to secure Ukraine’s return to Europe. The country desperately needs the prospect of EU membership.

Czech Republic social insurance one of highest

Prague — Social security insurance, which ranks among secondary staff costs, in the Czech Republic is one the highest in the world, according to a survey conducted among 36 countries by consulting company Deloitte.

 

While social insurance paid from an average monthly wage is more or less also average, it increases with the growing wage. In the category of wages around 50,000 Kč, the Czech Republic ranks among the most expensive countries along with Slovakia, Estonia and Belgium.

“In Great Britain but also in Malta or Cyprus, for instance, secondary staff costs paid by employers per employee with income around 50,000 Kč a month amounts to less than one quarter (in comparison with CR). Unlike most countries, employers in the Czech Republic have to pay markedly higher insurance for employees to the state than employees themselves,” Deloitte manager Lucie Rytířová said.

Insurance paid by employers in the Czech Republic amounts to 34 percent.

Entrepreneurs in the CzechRepublic pay markedly lower insurance. Present insurance rates for entrepreneurs are relatively high, standing at 13.5 percent for health insurance and 29.2 percent for social security insurance, but the basis for their calculation is only one half of net profit, the study noted.

Time for action to stop same-sex marriages

Estonia, the smallest country in the EU with a population of less than Northern Ireland, produced a petition signed by 38,000 demanding that the Estonian government reject same-sex marriage.

As a result the Estonian government have made it clear they will not be proceeding with any legislation for same-sex marriage.

In addition Croatia, the newest member of the EU, produced a petition signed by a massive 750,000 citizens in only two weeks rejecting same-sex marriage. Again this has put an end to same-sex marriage in Croatia.

Both Estonia and Croatia follow Poland, Hungary, Latvia, India and Russia who have all rejected same-sex marriage.

One must ask why it is that the English press have not reported on these votes. Is it a case of neglect or out and out bias?

The Northern Ireland christian community can still stop same-sex marriage regardless of what judges may say if a citizens’ petition is started now. There is no time to lose.

It seems that up to now the Northern Ireland christian community have been asleep on this issue. Now is the time for action.

Acts of war : Front line is online

At what point does a cyber-attack become an act of war?

My question is prompted by last week’s news that a highly sophisticated malware program called Mask has spent the last six years stealing valuable intelligence from supposedly secure government and diplomatic computers around the world.

Researchers are certain that Mask itself was produced by a government. Intrusions by one country into the networks of another have become so common that it’s reasonable to wonder whether all this cyberwarfare is warfare. The time to think about this is now, when these battles are still in their adolescence. Because how we fire back will depend in part on whether we think we’re at war.

Russia’s Kaspersky Labs, which discovered Mask, calls it more sophisticated than Flame, previously considered the gold standard in cyber-espionage. (All the world believes that the United States and Israel jointly developed Flame, along with its earlier cousins Stuxnet and Duqu, in order to attack the Iranian nuclear program, and perhaps other Middle Eastern targets as well.) Mask, like Flame, is principally a surveillance program. It steals files and keystrokes and encryption keys, and it was designed to operate for a long time undetected.

So are most malware programs, of course. Mask, however, is in a class of its own; Kaspersky’s detailed report uses adjectives such as “special” and “elite” in describing its capabilities. The most interesting aspect of the program, also known as Careto, may be its ability to target files with unknown extensions. These, Kaspersky suggests, “could be related to custom military/government-level encryption tools.”