VZCZCXRO5592
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTL #1076 3381554
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 041554Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY TALLINN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9313
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS TALLINN 001076 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EN
SUBJECT:  PRESIDENT ILVES REACHES OUT TO RUSSIAN 
ESTONIANS IN IDA-VIRUMAA 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary.  In an effort to reach out to Estonia's 
Russian-speaking minority, on November 14 Toomas Hendrik 
Ilves chose Ida-Virumaa as the destination of his first 
domestic trip as President.  While there, he encouraged 
young ethnic Russians to participate actively in the 
political process, and highlighted the growing 
importance of Russian/Estonian trade relations.  The 
trip received significant press coverage, but produced 
little editorial reaction.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Starting with his inaugural address, President 
Ilves has made a point of reaching out to Estonia's 
ethnic Russian residents.  On November 14, Ilves notably 
chose Ida-Virumaa, a predominately ethnic Russian county 
in northeast Estonia, as the destination of his first 
domestic trip as President.  Ethnic Russians make up 
about 85 percent of the population in Ida Virumaa. 
According to polls conducted immediately after the 
presidential election in October, "non-Estonians" are 
the one demographic group among whom Ilves does not have 
significant popular support. 
 
¶3.  (U) In Narva, Ida-Virumaa's largest town (population 
67,000), President Ilves spoke to high school students 
at the Narva Humanitarian Gymnasium.  He stressed to the 
students that they should not feel ashamed that Russian, 
not Estonian, is their native language - drawing a 
parallel with his own experience speaking Estonian while 
living in Sweden, Germany, and the United States. 
"Nevertheless," the President continued, "to achieve 
success in Estonia, one should learn the official 
language."  Ilves noted that although ethnic Estonians 
are a minority in the region, 73 percent of residents 
under the age of 15 are Estonian citizens.  The 
President called on these young citizens to be 
politically active, stating, "Your concerns are not 
concerns of the Russian government or the Russian 
president, but our concerns.  We cannot [make] do 
without you."  The President stressed that a small 
country like Estonia cannot afford to be indifferent 
towards any of its people. 
 
¶4.  (U) The growing importance of Estonian-Russian trade 
routes also garnered significant attention during Ilves' 
trip.  County Governor Ago Silde presented Ilves with a 
sketch of a proposed new bridge across the Narva River 
that would connect Estonia and Russia and facilitate 
trade.  Ilves also visited Sillamae Port to participate 
in a ceremony to mark the construction of a second 
mooring for tankers and cargo ships.  Sillamae Port, the 
most eastern deep-sea port in the EU, was opened in 2005 
and is used primarily by ships transporting cargo 
between Russia and the rest of Europe.  Ilves noted that 
the need for a second mooring indicates the growing 
interest of Russian companies in Estonian port transit. 
 
¶5.  (U) Public reaction to the trip was generally 
positive.  Ken Koort, the Ida-Virumaa representative for 
the Minister for Population and Ethnic Affairs, noted 
the warm welcome the President received.  Estonia-wide 
Russian language newspapers Molodjezh Estonii and 
Postimees gave the trip front page coverage, although 
there was very little analysis of the significance of 
the trip or comment on the reaction of ethnic Russians. 
The local Ida-Virumaa newspaper Pohjarannik wrote, "We 
value Ilves' visit to the northeast highly, where he was 
able to bring home to all Russian speakers - without 
speaking Russian - that he considers all of them his 
compatriots...Neither of the previous presidents that 
spoke Russian had made the message to ethnic Russians so 
clear before." 
 
WOS