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RR RUEHAG RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHTL #0023/01 0391555
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R 081555Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY TALLINN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0395
INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TALLINN 000023 
 
SIPDIS 
AMEMBASSY ANKARA PASS TO AMCONSUL ADANA 
AMEMBASSY ASTANA PASS TO AMCONSUL ALMATY 
AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF 
AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL LEIPZIG 
AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PASS TO AMEMBASSY PODGORICA 
AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PASS TO AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 
AMEMBASSY ATHENS PASS TO AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI 
AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 
AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/08 
TAGS: PGOV PINS EN
SUBJECT: INTERIOR MINISTER TAKES INITIATIVE TO INTEGRATE RUSSIAN 
SPEAKERS IN ESTONIA; AGREES TO MORE RESOURCES TO FIGHT DIGITAL PIRACY 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Marc Nordberg, Pol/Econ Chief, State; REASON: 1.4(B), 
(D) 
 
Classified by Ambassador Michael Polt for Reasons 1.4 B & D. 
 
 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: In a February 3 courtesy call on Minister of 
Interior Marko Pomerants, the Minister briefed the Ambassador on 
his push  to accelerate the integration of Estonia's 
Russian-speaking minority into mainstream Estonian society. 
Pomerants, worried particularly about the pervasive influence of 
Moscow-produced media on Estonia's Russian speakers, is convinced 
the Government of Estonia (GOE) must spread its own messages to 
these residents.  Pomerants is working to convince other ministries 
to issue GOE press releases in Russian and is considering creating 
a state Russian-language newspaper to spread news about Estonia. 
On other topics, Pomerants responded positively to the Ambassador's 
urging that Estonia make greater efforts to fight digital piracy. 
Pomerants replied that he and the Minister of Justice recently 
agreed to devote more efforts to combat cyber crimes.    End 
summary. 
 
 
 
"Integration My Pet Project" 
 
 
 
¶2. (C) In their introductory discussion, Pomerants spoke at length 
to the Ambassador about the integration of Estonia's 
Russian-speaking minority, calling it his "pet project."  Pomerants 
was particularly concerned about Ida-Virumaa County, in north-east 
Estonia on the border with Russia, where he said 84 percent of the 
population is Russian-speaking and 47 percent either hold Russian 
citizenship or are stateless.  He stressed that Estonia, "needs to 
make an effort to keep this region," and claimed Russia was 
exerting its influence in this particular county through 
Russian-language media imported from Russia, as well as by training 
teachers.  Pomerants, reflecting Estonian policy, emphasized that 
Russian speakers in Estonia should learn Estonian, in order to be 
eligible to apply for state jobs (a prerequisite for these jobs is 
Estonian citizenship, one element of which is to pass an Estonian 
language exam).  Pomerants also stated that the Estonian state must 
to do more to inform Russian speakers about even basic information 
on Estonia.  He said he is working to convince other ministries and 
the Prime Minister's Office to start issuing government press 
releases in Russian as well as Estonian.  Pomerants himself gives 
some interviews in Russian.  His ministry is also considering 
creating a state-funded Russian-language newspaper, or at least 
creating inserts for existing papers to get the government's 
message out.  While being open to conveying Estonian state 
positions in the Russian language in the near term, Pomerants 
nonetheless stressed that he supports the overall GOE objective to 
increase the number of Estonian citizens through naturalization, 
without easing the requirement to pass an Estonian language test. 
 
 
 
Fighting Digital Piracy 
 
 
 
¶3. (C) The Ambassador stressed that Estonia needs to make serious 
progress combating digital piracy.  Pomerants replied that he met 
with the Minister of Justice February 2, and both agreed to use 
greater efforts to countering cyber crime.  Pomerants added that 
Estonia will be better positioned to fight digital crime if it is 
allowed to host the EU's new IT Agency (Note:  An EU decision is 
forthcoming; both Estonia and France have offered to host). 
 
 
 
Airport Security 
 
 
 
¶4. (C) Discussing the failed Christmas attempt to bomb a flight 
over Detroit, Pomerants said he did not think additional efforts 
for airport security, such as confiscating liquids or "small 
scissors," added anything to safety.  He did say he was resisting 
 
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pressure to exempt VIPs from going through security at Tallinn 
Airport and believed that increasing Passenger Name Recognition 
efforts, to stop terrorists before they reach the airport, was a 
much more effective solution.  The Minister agreed with the 
Ambassador that announcements, such as the one made by Estonian 
airport authorities, that no new security measures were needed at 
Tallinn airport, were not helpful in maintaining a visible 
high-level security posture. 
 
 
 
¶5. (C) Comment: Up to now, the MOI has played a relatively small 
role in integration policy.  Pomerants' energy has not been 
welcomed enthusiastically by others in the GOE, and established 
Russian-language media outlets have also not responded positively 
to his initiative, sensing competition.  While we need to watch 
carefully how the Russian-speaking community greets the greater 
involvement in integration of Estonia's security service, in 
principle we support Pomerants' initiative, and we welcome his 
ideas on creating media alternatives, albeit more private then 
government ones to enhance their credibility,  to the Moscow 
muckrakers. 
POLT