GALLERY: October 20-26 in Pictures
The week began and ended with the national elections in mind, but foreign politics received the most column inches between.
The story that will remain in the spotlight the longest is that of Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi resigning after an Internet outburst against coalition partner minister Jevgeni Ossinovski.
Ligi said the nation is more important than him continuing in the post, despite helping Estonia out of the economic crisis with some tough governing. Ligi branded Ossinovski “an immigrant's son from the pink party” on Facebook after a TV debate over the degree to which the Soviet occupation was to blame for Estonia's wealth compared to Nordic nations.
The monthly polls showed a great drop for the Social Democrats, losing 3 percentage points, falling to the lowest level since January 2012. IRL's ratings dropped slightly and the Center Party climbed up 1 percentage point. Experts and the parties themselves said the Cohabitation Act mixed up the ratings. The ratings for October, four months before national elections were as follows: Reform Party and Center Party both on 27 percent, Social Democrats with 19 and IRL with 16 percent. None of the smaller parties, nor the two new parties, came close to the 5-percent threshold.
Estonia welcomed Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven at the beginning of the week. Löfven said Sweden has no plans to join NATO, but will increase defense spending, especially in the light of an unknown vessel entering Swedish waters that was treated as a hostile act .
On the same day, a Russian reconnaissance plane entered Estonian airspace without permission. It was 500 meters deep near the major islands, turning back after nearly a minute. Estonia protested, Russia denied the incident.
Turkish President Tayyip Ergoğan was in Tallinn during the second half of the week, with security issues on the table. Both countries have seen the security situation near their borders deteriorate this year. Estonia affirm support for Turkey joining the EU.
A benefit concert was held at the Nordea Concert Hall to collect aid for Ukraine. A number of well-known local and Ukrainian musicians performed, and the event was broadcast on TV, collecting close to 200,000 euros.
The nation's climate reminded Estonians that it is a cold country, dropping the temperatures below the – 10 C mark on Thursday, with a little snow seen in Narva. But the cold spell ended as fast as it popped up, and the temperature outside the ERR News offices in Tallinn on Monday are around 10 C.