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- [00:00]
A
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- [00:37]
B
I mean, there's so much news to parse and we're very lucky to be able to do so with one of the prime ministers and the leaders that was in the room there with the NATO allies and also one of the nations that borders Russia. And of course, one of the nations that is spending the most in Naito in terms of the proportion of gdp, it's the Estonian prime minister, Kristen Michael, who joins us now just fresh from those meetings, fresh from the comments from Donald Trump. I'd just like to get your general impression to begin with after this meeting that you left just there with the President, United States, 30 other leaders from NATO, including yourself. What is your impression from the meeting?
- [01:05]
C
I would say the impressions are quite positive because as Donald Trump said that his concluding remarks that he almost regrets that there were no cameras inside because all the European countries were saying, as we agreed in the Hague, that they will invest more in defense and the further sharing with America will be there and also that we are also this kind of security suppliers to each other. So Iran was mentioned, Ukraine was mentioned, mentioned a lot. Russia's threat was mentioned a lot. So overall the summit was positive and
- [01:39]
B
thinking also about because going into that meeting we heard a lot of negative commentary from the president of the United States. It sounds like he was much more positive in the room and that there's a sort of understanding between the Europeans and the Americans. Do you think that that is fair to say?
- [01:52]
C
I will say that that's fair to say because it also might be that Donald Trump was all the time there listening to all the speeches, reacting to them and giving the feedback if needed. And I would say that the message from European side was also quite clear and NATO member side that we heard what was agreed in Hague and we are delivering. So for example, my country, as you said, we are the highest spenders or among the highest spenders. He mentioned us at the opening speeches. Stoney, a lot of training Poland that we are already delivering more than 5%.
- [02:25]
B
And we've also heard comments from the President of the United States on the question of Iran, saying that he will probably strike Iran again, that he considers the cease fire basically over at this point. Can you give us a little bit of the sort of texture of the conversation around Iran? Do you is there a pressure from the President, United States to have NATO allies more included as we've heard from him over the last couple of weeks?
- [02:45]
C
I would say that the inside the room and also publicly has been said and my position is also that Iran must not have nuclear weapons. That's quite clear. And that we support President Trump and America's position also. Everybody was quite happy about this kind of de escalation and this kind of agreement which brought prices down, inflation down and risks down, but said that we are also willing to contribute and probably all most of the members in NATO's are willing to contribute to free passage in Hormuz, whatever that means, that hopefully things will go back to the road. The way to de escalate the situation.
- [03:26]
B
And something that we just heard from the President, the United States sitting alongside President Zelensky and this is a massive piece of news for the Ukrainians that he's going to give licensing an agreement to build Patriot missiles domestically within Ukraine. I'd like just first your reaction to that and how significant you see that in the context of this war.
- [03:41]
C
That is, as you said, that is very significant. That is very significant because when you look at the situation in Ukraine, you see that Ukraine is asking and everybody is providing as much as they can, but they need Patriot systems and different kind of antiballistic systems. So the message coming from the President of America, United States, that he's willing to consider giving Patriot licenses to Ukraine, that is huge.
- [04:10]
B
And it seems that he's also open to giving licenses beyond Ukraine into other European nations. If that were something that is on the table, is that something that Estonia would fight for to build those Patriot systems within your country?
- [04:22]
C
We probably would talk through with different members of NATO because we are enlarging our defence industry. It's private sector based. So if there's interest or core production interest, we probably look into it.
- [04:38]
B
And thinking about the conversation you've had in there about Russia, we've heard from the President, I'd say saying that he's been speaking a lot to Vladimir Putin. He says that he thinks that Russia's conditions for ending the war are changing. What is your impression of now, the President's stance and also the conditions of the war at this stage, I would
- [04:54]
C
say that that's also very significant change because as you know, Putin has been the master of this kind of cognitive warfare because he had everybody to believe that his army was the strongest. And he will be in Kyiv in three days and Zelensky will be fleeing and losing and so on. This has not happened. It's 50 years and Putin is losing 30 to 35,000 of his. This is only imaginable number and tragedy. And if that's visible and everybody understands that Russia has already problems in periphery, but also in metropolitan fuel, demographic problems, also switching off different kind of 5G, 4G connections, Telegram, so on. That means Putin is paranoid and there's no healthy part in economy anymore. So that means if the perception will go all over the world, we will pressure more Russia.
- [05:46]
B
And there is of course, a side of that that is an advantage for Ukraine potential potentially in negotiations. But there is also a side of that, with Putin under pressure, that makes Russia a little bit more dangerous as a nation that neighbors Russia. We heard from the prime minister of Poland a couple of days ago saying that this is going to be a really sort of difficult period over the next couple of weeks, and it's going to be a real test for the Baltic nations and yourself. Are you preparing for something new from Russia? How are you viewing the threat at this point?
- [06:09]
C
I would say that there's no this kind of acute new threat coming from Russia. But as you said, the signal is coming from that side that Putin is cornered and he's getting more paranoid than the. He's losing face in the Ukrainian war. Also inside Russia, people are pressuring him and he's not so popular anymore. So that is the. This kind of layer that everybody understands that he will do something, and everybody's asking what is that he will do?
- [06:36]
B
And the theme of this meeting has really been about burden sharing. That's been the theme of the last two months among the NATO. You see the 5% pin on your jacket. But there's also another burden that is being shared and that is the support for Ukraine within Europe. The Baltic nations, the Scandinavians, we've had comments that they're sharing a lot of the. A lot of the burden. Does that need to be more evenly distributed across European nations? And how do you get the other nations to pay?
- [06:59]
C
I would say the answer probably would be yes, if possible. That the most this kind of illustrative argument usually is that when you look at Russia, you have more men under the arms than at the start of the war and when the war would pause, end whatever will happen, they will distribute equally to Europe, to Europe, Asia, Africa and so on. How many of these guys do what? Turn home. So so if you don't want those guys, ramp up your security, support Ukraine or fight against Russia.
- [07:30]
B
Well, Kristen, Mikhail, thank you so much for your time there. The Prime Minister of Estonia, fresh off of those meetings that have just wrapped at the NATO 32 nations with the President of the United States with a lot of big news from Iran and of course that critical news for Ukraine that they'll be able to produce Patriots
- [07:43]
A
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